


The reign of fluff

by girlupnorth



Series: Avatar: The reign of fluff verse [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-16
Updated: 2010-11-21
Packaged: 2017-10-12 17:41:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/127362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlupnorth/pseuds/girlupnorth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some six years after the end of the series, the Fire Ladies find themselves pregnant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Leseparatist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leseparatist/gifts).



> **Contains:** pregnancies. Fluff. Crack. Marital sexuashun of f/f, m/f, and m/f/f variety. Marital sexuashun while (very) pregnant. Threesome(s). (Veiled) allusions to incest. More fluff. Inappropriate jokes. Zuko being dramatic. Even more fluff (no, really).
> 
> This is for Novin_ha (♥), for reasons obvious.
> 
> This has also been my comfort writing throughout the summer (and early autumn), so the levels of fluff are pretty epic. It's also crack, so you may expect much looser storytelling than in my usual writings (although there does happen something by way of the plot).
> 
> Resemblances to real-life people and situations are intentional. The concept of the story, as well as some of the scenes, were born in conversations with Novin_ha, who also did the beta.
> 
> Enjoy!

Since Katara began to live in the Fire Capital, there was but one thing that she could not get used to: the summer heat. The Fire Nation state was quite pleasant during other seasons, but in the spiking heat of the summer, Katara missed the weather of her homeland.

Luckily, being a Fire Lady had its perks. Among them was certainly the possibility of calling for a bath at any given moment of the day. After just a few weeks of Katara's stay at the palace, Zuko had a large bathroom with a giant bathtub built especially for her, in addition to the regular-sized one in the bathroom next to their bedchamber. In the summer, and particularly when Zuko was absent on political duties, it was there that both Katara and Mai could most frequently be found.

The bathtub was in such a size that some might even call it a pool, and Katara loved it. She could lie on her back in the water for what felt like hours, bending the element around her. However, there were also much more interesting uses of the bathtub, which Katara rarely failed to acknowledge.

On this particular afternoon, Katara moved leisurely through the water towards the corner in which Mai was seated. She submerged her head to kiss Mai's ankles, and then bent the water to begin tickling the inside of her thighs. Coming to the surface, Katara saw Mai's face quite flushed, her mouth open in a small sigh. Drops of water trickling down her face, Katara moved even closer and kissed Mai deeply, never ceasing to stroke her with water.

"Katara," Mai gasped softly, lovingly.

"My pretty," Katara said. "Should I stop?" she asked, as Mai grasped her wrist under the water.

Mai shook her head. "More," she said.

Katara continued her bending, expertly, gently at first, then increasing the pressure. After a moment of heightened concentration, she caused the water to form in dozens of tiny serpents which encircled Mai's body, stroking her belly and her sides, and rising to touch her breasts and upper back. Mai moaned loudly, and pulled Katara closer, digging nails into her arms as she began to come.

"My pretty," Katara repeated, stroking Mai's head and shoulders, when Mai finally stopped shivering. "My darling."

She wrapped them both in a comfortable coating of water, and sat next to Mai, embracing her tightly.

"You should write a guide," Mai said, resting her head against Katara's shoulder, her eyes half-closed in pleasure.

"I'd rather not advertise these skills around," Katara said. "Besides, there aren't that many waterbenders left."

At this, Mai opened her eyes, and studied Katara for a long moment, before saying,

"Speaking of which…"

"M-hm?" Katara asked, wriggling her toes in the water.

"You _have_ noticed that we both should have bled some two weeks ago, haven't you?"

"I have," Katara said, slowly. "Two weeks ago at the _latest_."

Mai nodded, and placed Katara's hand on her flat stomach, her other hand mirroring the gesture on Katara's own belly. "Do you think we are pregnant?" she asked.

"It may be still too early to tell for certain," Katara said. "That's why I didn't mention it to you."

Mai paused.

"I have been sleepy all the time lately," she said.

"I've been nauseous every morning," Katara sighed. Mai looked a tiny bit surprised.

"I haven't noticed _that_."

"That's because you're fast asleep when I wake with my stomach wanting out," Katara explained. "And by the time you wake, I am fine."

"You should have told me," Mai said, stroking Katara's belly. "And, well, that's the other thing – we've been eating _a lot_ this past month. In the evenings, especially."

"That's true," Katara said.

"So?"

"Alright. So, we may be having babies," Katara said. After a short moment, they both smiled, and began to kiss: once, twice, a dozen times.

"This is… quite nice," Mai said carefully. "To be going through it all with you."

"M-hm," Katara muttered by way of agreement. "Can you imagine how cute our children will be?"

Mai smiled.

"Very cute," she said, and they began to kiss again.

"One more thing," Mai said after a long while.

Katara nodded.

"I know."

"Zuko will freak out."

"He will absolutely freak out."

"How are we going to tell him?" Mai asked.

Katara stared into the water, trying to think of an answer. Then she shrugged.

"We'll figure something out," she said. "Would you care for a dinner? I'm starving."

*

The Fire Lord Zuko returned to his palace early at night, after two weeks of official visits to the Earth Kingdom.

He decided to forego both the meal and the bath proposed by the servants, and headed straight for the bedchamber, where he expected to find his Fire Ladies fast asleep after the long day they undoubtedly had as well.

To his surprise, upon opening the door, he found Katara and Mai lying in a tight embrace, exchanging kisses and small caresses, and speaking in half-tones.

"Hello," he said, approaching the bed. Katara and Mai glanced at him, and then rose in a beautifully synchronised motion, sitting up on the bed. They were both wearing half-transparent nightgowns, and appeared absolutely gorgeous.

"Zuko," Katara said, and Mai added, "Hello."

Zuko kicked off his boots, and joined them on the bed, kissing and embracing both of them. His wives helped him out of his ridiculous official robe, and within minutes the three of them sat leaning against the pillows, snuggled closely together.

They spent a while chatting about the details of his trip and of life at the court, pausing only to kiss and exchange words of love.

"What were you talking about when I walked in?" Zuko asked eventually, when they had filled him in about the latest going-ons in the palace.

What followed was an exchange of playful glances, mischievous smiles, and raised eyebrows between Mai and Katara. Although brief, it made Zuko grow alert: the last time something like that occurred, they suggested acting out a fantasy that involved quite a bit of bondage and blindfolding.

"Well?" he prompted.

"Well," Katara said slowly, "We were discussing baby names."

"Oh," Zuko said, his interest waning. "Are you going to become an aunt again?" Sokka already had a bunch of children, incredibly noisy and lively creatures, who seemed to be able to perform acrobatics before they learned to walk properly.

"No, actually," Katara said, and again exchanged looks with Mai. Then they both took his hands. "Zuko," Katara began.

"You're going to be a father, Zuko," Mai finished with a smile.

For a moment, Zuko was dumbstruck, uncertain what to say.

"Oh," he managed after a while. "Wh- which of you is…?" he asked, looking quizzically from one woman to another.

In lieu of a response, each of his wives placed one hand of Zuko on her stomach. He stared at them for another moment, as the meaning of their gesture slowly reached his brain.

"No?!…"

"Yes," Katara said, smiling widely.

"But… how can you _both_ be pregnant?"

"I think you know how," Mai said in her usual dry tone, pushing his hand lower down her stomach. Katara giggled.

"But…" Zuko said again. "What if you go into labour at the same time?"

"Well, if anything, it will save us expenses with birthday celebrations in the future," Mai pointed out.

"Relax, Zuko," Katara said. "Pregnancy and childbirth are perfectly natural phenomena. There is nothing to be worried about. And even if there were, I _am_ one of the world's best healers."

"What do you mean, there is nothing to be worried about!" Zuko exclaimed, freeing himself from their embraces, and sitting so as to face both of them. "There is _plenty_ to be worried about! Your well-being! Assassination plots! Politics! We had three official visits planned in the next two months only! Everything will need to be re-organised and re-considered! And then the life at the court! And ascendancy!" He groaned, and covered his face with his hands. "What if they will _fight each other for the throne_?" He asked, and fell between the pillows. "Just kill me now."

"You are very cute when you're being all dramatic," Mai said in a voice that, despite it revealing no apparent emotion, Zuko had long decided to consider her most tender.

"And now you're laughing at me."

"We never laugh at you," Katara said, sounding as if she was fighting laughter. "Come on, Zuko. Aren't you happy? We're going to have pretty tiny babies!"

Zuko rose tentatively on his elbows. "Of course I am happy," he said. "Just… concerned." He attempted a smile. "You will make beautiful mummies," he said. "And our babies will be the prettiest, obviously."

"And before they are born, we will have grown very sexy breasts and bellies," Katara said, and she kissed Mai for a long while. Zuko began to relax a little, but Katara's next words sent him back into a panic mode.

"And of course," Katara said, breaking the kiss, and sliding her hand over Mai's breast. "We will want to have lots and lots of sex."

To his credit, Zuko counted to ten before bursting out,

"You can't possibly want to have sex!" Decisively, though gently, he pushed Mai's hand away from his chest, and dived back between the pillows. "It could hurt the _babies_!"

Mai sighed. "Katara, you're the healer. Tell him."

"It is perfectly alright for pregnant women to have sex," Katara said. "Especially when they are eager to."

"What if the _babies_ aren't?" Zuko asked, only to hear Mai sigh again.

"Babies are happy when their mummies are happy," Katara said patiently.

"You don't have to treat me like an idiot child," Zuko declared, his voice muffled by the pillows. "I am the Fire Lord. And also a father now."

There was a moment of silence, after which Zuko felt Mai touch him again.

"Well, Zuko, if you don't want to have sex with us, you don't need to," Mai said, stroking his back. Despite the soothing tone of her voice, Zuko jerked up.

"Hey!"

"That's true," Katara said, smiling to Mai, and leaning in for another kiss, while the other woman reached to touch her breasts. "We should be able to make do without him."

"You're just using me for my semen," Zuko said dramatically.

Mai nodded. "And also for the opportunities offered by your political power," she said.

Zuko nodded, all his suspicions confirmed.

"I will spend the night in the other bedchamber," he said primly, making a gesture to get out of the bed. "Goodnight, my ladies."

Before he managed to move any further, Mai and Katara had him back down on the bed, pinned to the linens.

"Oh no, no, no, Fire Lord," Katara said, straddling his hips with a wicked smile.

"We are going to become mothers of your heirs," Mai said matter-of-factly. "You must take good care of all our needs."

Zuko thought briefly about pointing out the lack of consistency in their arguments, but when Mai leaned down to kiss him, and Katara proceeded to touch him intently, he decided to keep his quiet, and focus on the matter at hand.

*

The next person to find about Katara and Mai's pregnancies was Sokka.

By that time Zuko had managed to go through numerous panic attacks, focusing on such diverse aspects of his impending fatherhood as his lack of patience and its possible consequences for their children's personalities ("They will be the most nervous babies in the Fire Nation! They will need _therapies_!"), their children's bending skills ("And what if I can't teach them good firebending?"), and the possibility that the babies will take the murderous instincts after Ozai or Azula ("They could try to assassinate me before they're out of their nappies!").

"Wow," Mai deadpanned, taking a cookie to her tea. "Way to make it all about you, darling."

"They could try to assassinate us _all_ ," Zuko said. "My head hurts just thinking about it."

"We will raise them in a loving and peaceful environment," Katara said. She was sitting with her head resting on her hands, and still feeling slightly woozy from the morning nausea.

"Not if they kill us first," Zuko reminded them.

"Contrary to what you may know from home, most children don't grow trying to kill their parents!" Katara exploded. She was feeling tired with Zuko's panicking, a sure sign that the pregnancy _was_ affecting her behaviour. Usually she'd wait until he was done, and only then would they argue about the actual drawbacks and advantages of a given situation.

"That's true, they don't," Sokka said happily, walking into the dining chamber. "They're all snugly and adorable and burpy at the beginning, and then they are already making flip-flops." He beamed, apparently at the thought of this own children. Katara, Mai and Zuko stared at him for a long while before looking at each other again.

"Well, that's one thing we don't need to worry about," Mai said with a sort of dark satisfaction to her voice.

"Wait. I forgot about knives!" Zuko said in horror. "What if their practising goes wrong and they accidentally kill someone?"

"Oh, you're thinking about allowing them to practice knives? That's adorable," Mai remarked.

"What are we talking about again?" Sokka asked pleasantly. There was a moment of silence around the table, and then Mai spoke up.

"The Fire Lord is very concerned about the approaching enlargement of our little family," she said in the fake official style she usually adopted when talking with Sokka. This, as Zuko assured Katara, was indicative of Mai's warm feelings towards her brother. "He is afraid that his heirs might try a coup before we're done breastfeeding."

Out of a corner of her eye, Katara saw Zuko's eyes go wide. Thankfully, before he managed to burst into another panic attack – this time on the subject of breastfeeding – Sokka worked out the meaning of Mai's words, and asked the follow-up question.

"Both of us, actually," Mai announced dryly. "Isn't that a happy coincidence."

Sokka's jaw dropped. Next moment, he jumped towards Katara, and hugged her tightly. "My little sister is having a baby," he said. "I'm going to be an uncle!"

"Hey," Mai said. "Another expecting mother here?"

"My favourite sister-in-law is also having a baby!" Sokka exclaimed, and hugged Mai as well, which caused her to smile a little. "That's _great_! Wait till I tell my girls, they'll be all over this." He glanced at Zuko. "Hey, congrats, man. How are you doing?"

"Running around in circles," Katara said, pulling on Sokka's sleeve so that he would embrace her tighter. "You know how he gets."

"It gets easier," Sokka said sympathetically. "So, have you written Dad and Gran-gran yet? I wouldn't like to step on your toes there."

"We haven't written or told anyone yet," Katara said. "So we'd appreciate if you, Suki, and Ty Lee could keep the news between yourselves."

"You do realize we're talking about _Ty Lee_ , right?" Mai asked. "She's not exactly famous for her secret-keeping."

"Yeah, I can tell you that news like this usually get around _real_ fast," Sokka said, nodding wisely. "So if you want Dad to find out from you and not fishermen gossip, you'd better write him right now."

"What _fishermen gossip_?" Katara asked suspiciously. "Do they gossip about _us_? Why don't I know about it? Sokka?"

"Well... they gossip about pretty much anything," Sokka said. "And you're still a very interesting topic, from what Bato says."

"I'm going to kill Bato," Katara said through clenched teeth. "And make it look like an accident."

"Nobody will suspect a waterbender to have created a storm," Sokka agreed pleasantly. "Dad might be inconsolable, though."

Katara shot him a glare.

"Too bad Aang's decided to stash himself away for a meditational retreat away from the world," Sokka noted. "He gets back, and you have half-year-old kids. Picture that."

"Maybe he'll find out from the passing _fishermen_ ," Katara hissed.

"I suppose I should write my parents as well," Mai said lightly, not paying any attention to the siblings' squabbling. "And Zuko, will you let your Uncle know?"

"He's going to send us appropriate gifts of tea," Zuko reflected, somewhat absent-mindedly. Katara and Mai exchanged glances, and smiled: Uncle Iroh indeed bombarded them with tea on every occasion, and without any occasion. Lately, they'd become quite certain that the majority of the packages contained aphrodisiacs or fertility-enhancing brews; Uncle Iroh was quite keen on the dynasty not dying out.

"He'll be overjoyed," Katara said warmly. Then, however, she noticed Zuko's frown. "What's wrong?"

"No, nothing," Zuko said, and forced himself to smile. "I've just realised there will be official announcements to make, and I'm not quite familiar with the protocol."

"The Fire Sages typically alert the Nation about the impending birth of the heir once the Fire Lady's pregnancy is deemed safe," Mai said at once. "Then, after the baby is born, there follows a period of festivities. We haven't, however, had one since your Uncle Iroh was born, as his heir's mother died in labour, and then you were born the son to the second Fire Prince." She noticed their stares, and shrugged. "What? I went to an expensive girls school."

"Sometimes," Sokka said, stealing a piece of cake from their table, "I'm glad that I'm not aristocracy."

They couldn't but agree with him.

*

Zuko had lied: he wasn't thinking about official announcements, but of the necessity of eventual notifying Ozai of the situation.

The thought alone was enough to give him a headache. Once every few months, Zuko would visit his father in his prison cell, making sure that Ozai was alive. The only other person allowed to come to the prison was Mai, whose purpose was to check whether the Phoenix King was not plotting anything; Zuko, unfortunately, was still unable to assess Ozai's behaviour. Mai, holding control of the Fire Nation spies, was much better suited for the job.

In the prison tower, Zuko went straight to Ozai's cell.

They glared at each other for a long moment when Zuko wondered over the right wording for his announcement. They arranged it so that Ozai knew as little as possible about the world outside his prison, and he in turn took care to use any information he'd learnt to taunt Zuko. The matter of ascendancy was Ozai's particular favourite, and one that would crop up during almost every single one of their meetings.

"Your mother was pregnant with you a mere month after our marriage," Ozai had said after the first year of Zuko and Mai's marriage, and he glowered. "But of course, you do not care for the continuity of the line."

"Yes, Uncle Iroh told me about _your pride_ in Mother's fast pregnancy when we were on the sea after my banishment," Zuko had replied then, pointedly. Ozai scowled.

"If you're here just to breathe my air, please stop wasting my time," Ozai said now, like he would do back in the times before Zuko's banishment.

Zuko made a point of staring at him for a while longer – he was the Fire Lord now, after all – and then, in a few succinct words, revealed the reason for his visit.

Ozai took the news in with silence.

"You must be very proud of yourself," he said at long last. "That would be your greatest achievement since you acceded to the throne."

Zuko glared.

"Of course," Ozai continued, a small smirk on his lips. "Children rarely grow up like parents expect them to." He sighed in mock exasperation.

"Do they."

"Do you know what I said when I first saw you?" Ozai asked, and, without waiting for Zuko's reply, told him, " 'That's an extraordinarily large clitoris on this child, isn't it?' "

"You will be happy to learn that it grew even larger," Zuko said coldly. Ozai blinked, but regained his composure momentarily.

"But we must not forget how crucial proper breeding is," he said. "Now, your Fire Lady is from a good enough family, but are you sure that that fisher girl can be trusted to give you firebenders? Or do you want your country to become another _Water Tribe_ in a generation or two?"

Zuko drove his nails into the palms of his hands, and bit back an angry refute. Ozai smiled.

"The Avatar could probably energy-bend them into firebenders without a problem," a cool, composed voice said behind Zuko's back. Zuko turned around and saw Mai, her hands crossed over her breasts, an expression of utter boredom on her face. "He could give bending as easily as he could take it away – but you are familiar with that ability of his, of course."

To Zuko's surprise, Ozai's glare actually exceeded in its intensity the ones he'd previously seen directed at himself. Mai shrugged, and walked over to Zuko, laying a hand on his arm.

"I'm tired. Let's go," she said.

They walked out of the prison together, their hands linked. As soon as they were in the outside corridor, Zuko embraced Mai close and kissed her.

"I asked where you'd gone, and I thought you might need some help," she explained.

"Thank you," Zuko said, and then remembered. "Are you alright? It's a rather long walk."

Mai smiled, and took hold of his hand again.

"I'm fine," she said. "I've been throwing knives earlier. I don't want to lose my prowess." She laughed quietly upon seeing his distress. "Katara is certain that it is absolutely safe."

" _I_ am certain that it is traditional for women of Fire Nation to rest throughout pregnancy," Zuko grumbled.

"Oh yes," Mai said lightly. "Up until a hundred years ago it was also traditional not to see one's husband from the day the pregnancy is announced until well past delivery. Is that the kind of tradition you'd want?" she asked with an adorable little pout.

Zuko hastened to ensure her that it wasn't what he wanted at all.

"Good," Mai said. "Now, let's go. We both have things to do before dinner."

Duties awaiting or not, they went to the palace at a leisurely pace, holding hands, and talking pleasantly. By the time they reached the royal gardens, Zuko had grown much calmer, and decided that he might be able to deal with the whole pregnancy business after all.

*

Despite Katara's continuing assurances that sex during pregnancy was completely safe, for the next few days Zuko remained surprisingly shy and delicate with both of them, leaving Mai rather unsatisfied. It wasn't that she wanted their sex rough, precisely; still, being treated as if she were made of glass made her grow exasperated.

It was the night of the full moon, which meant that nearly right after they had sex, Katara slipped out of the bed to bend the water in the ponds and fountains of royal gardens. Zuko fell asleep almost immediately, and Mai lay on her back for a long time, staring at the ceiling. At first, she tried to drift off; then, she started getting ideas. A sleepy, aroused Zuko wouldn't remember to be so annoyingly gentle with her, would he?

Before she turned to her husband, Mai started touching herself: her breasts, made doubly sensitive with the pregnancy; her stomach and sides; her pussy, still a little wet with previous arousal and pleasure. Doing so, she thought about Zuko's hands, and Katara's tongue, and she smiled in the dark. Finally, she decided it was time to wake Zuko.

Kissing the nape of Zuko's neck, Mai slowly slid her hand between his thighs, and touched his cock. "Wake up," she said softly, nuzzling his ear. Zuko's eyelids fluttered; she could feel him grow hard under her fingers. "Zuko? I think it's time for a quality fuck," she said, deliberately using her sexiest voice.

Zuko murmured something incoherently.

"Hey," Mai said, continuing to stroke him. "Wake up. Come take care of me." She took hold of his hand, and put it between her legs. "Feel that? I want you," she said, and kissed Zuko's ear.

"Mmm," Zuko said only, but Mai knew he was already half awake. She gently closed her hand around his cock, and heard Zuko gasp audibly. He touched her pussy more lucidly now, and just moments later, he pinned Mai down to the bed. He stroked her breast, and entered her, gasping again, straight into Mai's ear. She could feel his lean body smell of sleep, but it didn't take him long to start moving in the slow, steady rhythm Mai enjoyed so much. She locked her hands on Zuko's back, pushing him deeper inside her, and moaned.

She didn't hear Katara come back into the room, and only became aware of her presence when she felt Katara sit on the bed and lean to lay small kisses on Mai's arms. Then, of course, she went straight to the waterbending; Mai felt small trickles of water stroking her ears and neck, and even travelling to the sides of her breasts. From the way Zuko's breathing changed, she guessed that Katara was taking care of him as well. Moving her hand lower down his back and over his buttocks, Mai could feel ribbons of water dancing on Zuko's bare skin. He was moving more frantically now, pressing her hard against the bed.

Mai came first, with a deep sigh, holding Zuko close with her arms and legs. The pleasure made her temporarily numb to all stimuli; she was barely aware of Zuko still moving inside her, and then coming, loudly, and weighing her down to the bed. Katara lay to their side, stroking Zuko's back, and gently kissing Mai's neck.

"You look so beautiful together," she said softly.

"Mm-hm," Mai mumbled, and kissed Zuko's shoulder one more time, already drifting off to sleep.

 

*

About a week later, the reply letters from their families arrived, all at once. They read them during an impromptu meal which Katara and Mai demanded to be served some two hours before dinner. Despite his heavy workload, Zuko joined them at their insistence.

Mai leafed through her mother's missive absent-mindedly, and summed it up with a stifled yawn.

"Make sure your kid is born first and gets the throne," she said at Zuko's questioning glance.

"Hey, at least she's not suggesting you returned home and raised your _kid_ there," Katara said, folding back her own letter.

"Your father and Bato should adopt some war orphans," Mai said, almost causing Zuko to choke. "Or borrow your brother's children for a longer period of time."

"That'll only result in Sokka, Suki and Ty Lee having more time to themselves, and _that_ will lead to more babies," Katara pointed out.

They spent a good minute trying to picture the mess that _more_ Sokka babies could make. They failed miserably.

"Anyway, good news is that Master Pakku added a postscript from Gran-gran, saying that Dad is just being sentimental, and that they are all very happy for us," Katara said. "I _think_ he also suggests that he's sparing us some childrearing tips from Gran-gran."

"They could actually come in handy," Zuko said. "Next to my Uncle, your Gran-gran seems to be the most appropriate person to ask for help in upbringing the children."

"What has your Uncle written?" Mai asked, glancing at the sheet of paper in front of Zuko.

"He's congratulating us," Zuko said. "He says he'll visit us after the official announcements are made, to discuss the succession."

"What's there to discuss?" Katara asked, frowning.

"He probably means that I should draw an official document delineating succession laws, that could be consulted in emergency," Zuko explained. "Oh, and there's tea. For the morning sickness, Uncle says."

Katara beamed. "That's great. I can really use that."

"And for general well-being and good mood."

"That's for me, I guess," Mai said. Katara smiled, and inclined her head towards her for a kiss.

"And, of course, something soothing for me," Zuko said.

They all laughed.

"I need to get back to my office," Zuko said soon afterwards. He kissed them both, and stroked their flat stomachs. "Do you have any plans for the afternoon?"

"How about a bath?" Katara suggested, turning to Mai with a twinkle in her eye.

"Bath sounds wonderful," Mai agreed. "I'll have the servants prepare it."

At that moment, the next months appeared to them a very pleasant stretch of time.


	2. Chapter Two

Katara had always been told that every woman looked different when pregnant; now she had a chance to prove that theory. Within the next few months, she seemed to gain an additional layer of weight all over her body. It wasn't only her breasts and stomach that grew bigger, but also, her thighs, calves, and arms, and, to Zuko's delight, her ass.

Mai, on the other hand, sported only a small baby bump, and while they could tell that her breasts swelled a little, she was still able to fit easily into all her clothes.

The official announcement of Mai and Katara's pregnancies coincided with the celebration of the Autumnal Equinox. The days were already much shorter and colder, but still, spending a few hours in the sun made Katara feel quite dizzy. Upon returning to the palace, she proclaimed herself deadly tired from taking part in the traditional rites, and demanded that Zuko give her a foot massage as a compensation for mental distress.

Zuko knew better than to protest, so all three of them retired to the pleasantly warm bedchamber. Mai had the servants bring in several bowls of fruit, and curled on the side of the bed with some books on the subject of expecting heirs to the Fire Nation throne, which had been brought her by the Fire Sages. Katara propped herself against the pillows on the other side of the bed, and stretched her legs over Zuko's lap. She was soon sighing happily as Zuko proceeded to rub her feet with small, circular movements.

"Anything interesting in these books?" she asked, gazing lazily towards Mai. "Will we have to endure that fire around the belly thing again?"

Zuko scowled, but didn't comment.

As it turned out, a major part of the ceremonial announcement was a rite in which the Fire Lord (or Fire Prince who was the father of the unborn child) had to surround the expecting mother's stomach with a ring of fire; only after this formal declaration of paternity would the Fire Sages bless the mother and the pregnancy.

Katara proclaimed it absolutely the most outrageous thing she'd encountered to date in the Fire Nation.

"Apparently, about once every month," Mai said, looking through the book.

Katara snorted. "What, do they think Zuko will decide he's not the father after all?" she asked.

"He won't," Mai said stoically.

"It's all really just to accustom the babies with the fire as their natural element," Zuko said in a conciliatory tone.

"It's a vile, vile custom that emphasises masculine ownership over the female body," Katara exclaimed. "The other leg now."

"It's an ancient tradition of the Fire Nation," Zuko said, obediently starting to massage Katara's other foot.

"Okay. So when we go to visit my folk, I will wrap your cock and Mai's breasts in a layer of ice to show that you are both mine," Katara said.

"Hey!" Zuko protested. At the same time, Mai asked, with mild curiosity,

"Over or under our clothes?"

"Over, of course. They must know you belong to me," Katara said, and smiled. "My sexy, sexy Fire Lord and Lady."

"Mmm," Mai moved towards Katara, and they kissed. "I vote that instead of going to visit _my_ family, we spend a week not leaving the bedchamber, though."

"And not taking part in any rites. Yes!" Katara said enthusiastically.

"It wasn't that bad, though, was it? The people were quite vocal in expressing their joy," Zuko said. He seemed to be a little offended with Katara's lack of appreciation for his Nation's customs. "Especially the women, I think."

Katara and Mai exchanged glances.

"Of course they were," Mai said, reaching for another handful of berries.

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone wants some of that," Katara explained, nudging Zuko's chest with her toe. Zuko paused with a frown, and looked down at her leg with visible indignation.

"Is it just me, or are you treating me like a _piece of meat_?" he asked.

"It is just you," Mai assured him.

"But we love you anyway," Katara said.

"I sure hope so," Zuko sighed.

"You can do my feet too, while you're at it," Mai suggested lightly, adding her lovely long legs to Katara's in Zuko's lap. "We told you that you'd have to spoil us," she added with a smile.

Zuko attempted a glare, but the gaze he managed to produce was only endearingly tender.

"You'd better grow some quality babies in there, for all this spoiling," he said.

Katara laughed, and nudged him again. Mai just stretched herself next to her, completely relaxed; she lay her hands on her small bump, and looked at Zuko expectantly.

"Go on, they won't massage themselves," she said, rubbing her foot against his thigh.

Zuko sighed exaggeratedly, and proceeded to do as told.

 

*

Zuko's Uncle Iroh arrived at the palace at the end of next week, at a time when each of the royal threesome was deeply involved in their own duties. Zuko was sitting a boring budgetary meeting with his Council; Mai was reading spy reports; and Katara was overseeing the proper distribution of food and medical supplies to the ships that were to sail to the regions of the Fire Nation most destroyed by the war.

It was Katara who first ran into Iroh, when she cut her way to the palace short by going through the gardens. The leaves on the trees had already turned yellow and red, but the fountains were still working, despite the chilly weather, especially for Katara's pleasure.

She went towards her favourite fountain, ready to entertain herself with some waterbending before the dinner time. With a start, she realized that there was already somebody standing by the fountain; the next moment, she recognized Uncle Iroh.

He heard her, of course, before Katara reached the fountain. Being a little heavier now, she had slight difficulty walking as lightly as usual.

"Good afternoon," she said with a smile, approaching the Uncle. Truth be told, she felt somewhat uneasy in his presence. She'd once debated it with Mai, and they both agreed that it was weird that it was Zuko's Uncle who should be the Fire Lord instead of his nephew – and weirder still, that he appeared content running his little tea shop in Ba Sing Se.

"My dear," Iroh said, beaming. "You look absolutely wonderful." He took Katara's hands, and gazed with open delight at her growing belly.

"Thank you," Katara replied. She looked past Iroh, and noticed the baggage lying by the fountain. "Oh dear. Has nobody taken care of you, Uncle? Zuko and Mai are both busy, but I'd think the servants should-"

"It's perfectly alright," Iroh said, waving his hand. "I didn't want anybody fussing around me, so I took the chance of spending a quiet minute with my memories."

"Oh," Katara said, remembering what she'd been told about Iroh's late son, Lu Ten, and she spontaneously gave the Uncle a hug. "Isn't it a little too cold in here, though?" she asked, concerned. From what she could tell, the Fire Nation people took each drop in temperature badly. For the last few nights Zuko was more than usual insistent that he should sleep in the middle of the bed, between Mai and her, so as not to get cold during the night.

"As I've said: perfectly alright," Iroh said, and he offered Katara his arm, which she graciously accepted. "But now, my dear, let's take a walk into the palace, and talk a little. I trust the servants will take care of my things?"

"I'll send someone the moment I see them," Katara said.

"Good. Good. Now, tell me how you are."

They talked pleasantly enough on their way to the palace, pausing only to dispense orders to the servants: to collect Iroh's baggage, and to notify Zuko and Mai. Katara told Iroh a little about her duties, about the court life, and, of course, about the pregnancies. Uncle Iroh nodded wisely.

"So which of you is due first, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well," Katara said uncertainly. "It's hard to say, really." She felt herself covering with blush. "We're due about the same time, I suppose." She noticed a slight frown on Iroh's face. "Is something wrong?"

"Hmph," Iroh said. "Not precisely. Tell me, Katara, have you given any thought to the matter of ascendancy? The line to the throne, I mean."

"Zuko has," Katara said with a small laugh. "And he's been working on this document you suggested to him in your letter-"

"Yes. Equal primogeniture," Iroh said. "It's actually been made use of for generations now, but I think it's better to have it in writing to avoid future struggles for the throne."

Katara made a non-committal noise. "Well, that should make Zuko happy."

"Has he been panicking?" Iroh asked knowingly.

"Oh yes." Katara paused. "What exactly is equal primogono-"

"It means that if you happen to have a daughter, who is announced to be the heir, and _then_ you have a son, the daughter takes the throne anyway," Iroh explained after a moment of silence.

"Oh," Katara brightened. "That's nice. So what's the problem? Whether it's Mai or me who give birth first, whatever sex the children are, the one born first gets the throne."

"Well," Iroh went quiet again. "Not unless your child can bend fire, it can't become the Fire Lord."

Katara stared at him open-mouthed, but before she managed to gather her wits, the chamber was entered first by Mai, and then, a minute later, by Zuko. There were greetings, and joyous exclamations; gifts were exchanged. Soon, the servants brought in the dinner, which was eaten in a pleasant enough mood.

*

After Mai and Katara left the room, ostensibly in order to attend to some important duties (which may have meant that they were going to practice their knife-throwing and waterbending, respectively, or may have meant that they had got horny), Zuko spent about two more hours talking with his Uncle. To his relief, Iroh thought that the state affairs were progressing satisfactorily.

He expected to find them both in bed, and, upon reaching the bedchamber, he was surprised to only see Katara there. She was sitting on the bed, and weaving in the air a complicated web of watery threads. On seeing Zuko, she let go of the water, causing it to fall into the vase standing by the bed. He came closer, and noticed her frown.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting on the bed next to her. Katara shrugged.

"Just thinking," she said. "About what your Uncle said to me."

"Yes?" Zuko said carefully, embracing her.

"That my child may not be a firebender," Katara said. "And that it could lead to an ugly fight for the throne."

Instead of ruining the evening with exclaiming _Yes! This is_ exactly _what I've been talking about for the last three months!_ , Zuko attempted to enter the role of the supportive husband.

"We will love it regardless," he assured Katara. "Even if it won't be able to bend anything at all."

Katara snorted like an angry mongoosecat. "Why shouldn't my child be able to bend water?" she asked, pulling apart.

Zuko stared at her, taken aback. "Well, why shouldn't _my_ child be able to bend fire?" he asked. "I have _generations_ of firebending ancestors to back me up."

"And _I_ have an _awesome_ talent!"

"So do I!"

"Aah!" Katara whirled her hands in the air, and splashed his face with water. Zuko dried it off with a simple gesture, and caught her wrists in mid-air before she managed to hit him with more liquid. Katara fought with him for a moment, looking so beautiful with her anger and growing belly that Zuko couldn't but kiss her.

"You are absolutely awful," she said when he let her go, but she was already looking somewhat placated. "Awful, awful."

"Disgusting," he suggested, and leant in for another kiss.

"That, too," Katara replied, kissing him back.

"I leave you two alone for five minutes," Mai said, climbing the bed behind their backs, and they both started. "Hello," she said, and kissed first Katara, and then Zuko.

"He's being awful," Katara explained, making as to prod Zuko with her finger; in reply, he only held her wrists in a stronger grip. Mai looked on with apparent fascination.

"Come here," she said to Katara.

Surprisingly compliant, Katara leant forward, and Zuko let go of her hands. Mai, in turn, pulled her closer, starting to take both their clothes off. Zuko quickly undressed himself and knelt behind Katara, laying his hands on her breasts, and kissing her neck; Katara's breathing hitched.

"That's nice," she murmured into Mai's neck, and gasped softly as they both started stroking her: Zuko her breasts and sides, Mai her back. Zuko pressed himself against Katara's naked buttocks, causing her to gasp again. "That's even nicer."

"Hmm," Mai said, and it was Zuko's turn to catch his breath, as Mai reached towards him between Katara's legs and touched his cock. She ran her hand up and down its length several times, leaving Zuko quite out of breath, and then gently, though decisively, directed him right into Katara's cunt. Zuko leant forward, almost losing his balance, and had to hold fast onto Katara's breasts, making her moan in earnest.

"You should probably get more comfortable," Mai said thoughtfully, and moved out of the reach of Katara's arms, handing her a few pillows to rest on.

"And you're calling _me_ awful," Zuko mouthed into Katara's ear; she just sighed softly, and ground her ass against him. Zuko gasped again. He steadied himself, leaning one hand against the bed, and started to fuck Katara in long, slow strokes, pushing her hard against the pillows. She came with a muffled cry, driving her nails into his hand; he followed mere seconds after, and rested his head on Katara's arm, trying to remember how to breathe normally.

"My turn," Mai demanded, lying a hand on his shoulder.

With some effort, Zuko slowly disentangled himself from Katara's warm body, and moved towards Mai. She wrapped her arms around him, and pulled him in for a lazy kiss. Zuko embraced her tightly, stroking her back with just the tips of his fingers; Mai made a purring sound deep down in her throat. She put her nose in the crook of his neck, and inhaled deeply, while Zuko kissed her ear.

"Are you sniffing me?" he asked, amused.

"I like the way you smell after fucking her," Mai said. The sound of her voice sent a jolt of pleasure through his body. In the morning, this would have been enough to rouse him again, but at this hour he needed more time – or at least, bloodbending help from Katara, who appeared as drained as he was.

Instead, he went on kissing Mai. He kissed her neck and collarbones, then paused for a long while, gently licking and sucking her nipples, until Mai moaned. She pushed his head lower, gasping when Zuko trailed his tongue down her belly, stopping only when he reached the line of her pubic hair. This time it was his turn to inhale the familiar, musky scent, as he stroked his way down towards her wet pussy. He leaned in deeper, and kissed Mai's lower lips, her hands clutching on his hair. He licked her slowly, eliciting small moans, and then, when she started to push his head down more insistently, increased his speed and intensity. She came violently, pressing her pussy into his mouth; Zuko sucked and kissed her until Mai went completely limp.

They all snuggled together: Katara half asleep, and Mai still catching her breath. Zuko held them both close, stroking them almost until he fell asleep.

*

Iroh's visit was just the first of many familial calls to come. The next guests of the royal threesome were Sokka, Suki, Ty Lee, and their merry band of small and smaller children.

The palace cooks were overjoyed, as always when Sokka came to visit. This was the time when they felt most appreciated, and, moreover, could prepare any food without getting complaints that it was too heavy, too fatty, too spicy, or too sour.

For the dinner, Sokka, Katara, and Mai took generous portions of pretty much every dish on the table; Suki and Ty Lee had more modest helpings; and Zuko, terrorised by his wives to keep in shape, and forbidden to eat heavy food in the evening, ate some chicken-and-broccoli salad. The kids devoured their food without any fussing, and then were taken outside by a nanny; the adults observed them casually through the windows. The two oldest, twin boys, were running around the garden, followed by their slightly smaller sister, so far the only girl in the bunch. She trotted behind them on her small legs, crying in joy every time one of her brothers did a flip flop or attempted to walk on his hands.

The last of the kids, a seven-month-old boy, was sound asleep in Suki's arms.

Suki and Ty Lee brought their sisters-in-law a bag full of tiny clothing items, nappies, and baby accessories.

"It's high time you started gathering clothes and other necessary items," Suki announced. "Better to have a head start."

Katara took the first tiny vest and cooed, before passing it on to Mai.

"You can never have too many nappies," Ty Lee added. "And when you get two newborns at one time? Believe me, afterwards you're ready to take on _anything_."

"We kinda all took on Azula at one point or another," Katara mused, lifting her head up from a small dress. "Are two newborns worse than one Azula?"

Ty Lee considered the question for a moment. "Well, they may be more predictable," she conceded. "Hey, speaking of whom, how's Azula doing these days?"

"Uh… better, I suppose," Zuko said. "Sometimes she manages without counting her points for days at a time."

Azula, while still enclosed in a mental health facility, was making remarkable progress. The doctors had claimed their first success when Azula abandoned the fantasies of world domination, and busied her competitive streak with giving herself points against other patients for good behaviour. Now, they were working on helping her to move on from that as well.

"Well, that's a start," Sokka said. He reached for another helping of sweet potatoes, earning himself a slap on the arms from Ty Lee, and a slightly wistful look from Zuko. "Mm-what? They're mm-delicious."

"You're still eating more than we do," Katara said in amazement. "How is that possible?" Sokka shrugged; Katara narrowed her eyes. "You're not _pregnant_ , are you? I mean, I wouldn't put it past Ty Lee's acrobatic abilities..."

Sokka choked. Suki giggled.

"Unless you have his digestive skills, I wouldn't try to follow his example," she said. "Even now. It does take a while to lose excessive weight – well, you may not need to rush, but I had to fit back into the Kiyoshi warrior uniform."

Katara and Mai regarded Suki and Ty Lee with something of a quizzical fascination: the facial features of the former appeared noticeably softer two years after giving birth, while the latter still seemed a little plump from the pregnancy that had ended seven months prior. Both looked unquestionably lovely, and very happy.

"You're lucky that you'll be going through the second half in the colder months," Ty Lee said. "The first time around I was due in late summer and I thought I'd go insane with the heat and the swollen legs."

"It's going to get gross in a minute, isn't it?" Sokka asked.

"Please, do not give her any ideas," Mai chastened with a small smile. "If Ty Lee gets gross, we will never hear the last of the sordid details of the pregnancy, delivery, or your marital life."

"Actually, the worst thing was that I lost a lot of my agility," Ty Lee said. "My sense of balance all went to hell."

"But not for long," Sokka reminded her cheerfully, and Suki shushed him, pointing to the sleeping boy in her arms.

"Is he showing any bending abilities?" Zuko asked, trying to casually reach for the sweet potatoes, only to have his hand pinned down to the table by Mai.

"Nope," Sokka replied, offering his brother-in-law a look of utmost sympathy. "But Hakko started displaying his much later."

"Yeah, Kerana was a very early bloomer," Suki said proudly. "But, you know, we'll make sure they can deliver a kick and a stab anyway."

"That's always a good idea," Mai said, still holding Zuko's hand down to the table. The Fire Lord scowled.

"We got some baby things from Zuko's Uncle, too," Katara said, realizing that something needed to be done in order to get them out of the dining room. "Would you like to see?"

"Actually, I'd like to see more of this yummy-" Sokka began, and noticed his sister's glare. "Of course we would. Baby clothes. Woo-hoo!"

"There are also some toys," Mai said. "If that's any comfort."

Sokka admitted that toys sounded slightly more interesting.

Katara told the servants to fetch the children from the outside, and they all proceeded towards the living quarters, Sokka still grumbling about not getting enough of the delicious food.

 

*

Toph's arrival caught them slightly off guard. As usual, the earthbender neglected to announce her visit, so when she and her small entourage of servants knocked loudly on the gates, the palace maids were sent in a flurry of arranging rooms for the honoured guest.

The last time Toph came to visit the royal threesome made the mistake of putting her in a room above their bedchamber. Somewhat predictably, this resulted in her barging into their room late at night when they were having sex, screaming,

"Stop doing that _right now_! My feet are _grossed out_!"

They all froze in mid-motion. After a moment, Katara started to giggle helplessly, and Zuko's face flushed deep crimson. Mai, lying under him on her stomach, turned towards Toph and glared.

"It's _rude_ to interrupt people before they come," she said sternly, and then also broke off in giggles.

Zuko groaned, flushed even more, and crawled straight under the covers, hiding his head under the pillow. Katara and Mai hugged, still laughing.

"That's much better," Toph decided, and left. Mai and Katara laughed until they cried, and when they finally calmed down, they had to coax Zuko for a good quarter of an hour before he showed his face again. Afterwards, he refused to have sex outside of bathtub until Toph left, and even this only after Katara reassuring him about a hundred times that Toph's feet couldn't see through water. However, he still claimed that to be suffering from lasting trauma. His wives were less concerned with having been caught in the act, and enjoyed themselves in bed quite openly, without Toph's feet objecting even once.

This time, however, with Zuko being about three times as clingy as usual, they couldn't risk Toph ruining their nights again. After some careful consideration, they gave her a room in the side wing, with a terrace that opened straight onto one of the gardens.

Toph greeted each of them with a heartfelt hug.

"Sokka was right," she said when they were seated by the table. She kept tapping her foot on the floor – a motion which Zuko followed with some suspicion. "You are both getting _huge_."

"We're not _huge_ ," Katara said almost immediately. "We're average size for the fifth month. And I wouldn't mind us getting bigger, really. I think the bellies are very cute."

"Keep telling yourself that," Toph said, snorting. "Oh well. You'll be happy to know that your kids seem well formed and even kinda pretty."

"Really?" Zuko asked, not believing his own ears.

"See?" Mai said, and Katara added, "We told you so."

"Panicking, eh?" Toph nodded sagely. "Can't say I blame you. If I had _embryos_ growing in my close vicinity, I'd be freaking out, too."

There was a moment of silence, and then Zuko yelped when Mai elbowed him in the stomach.

"Actually, I think that they are both absolutely gorgeous, with the bellies and all," he said hastily.

"Yeah... right. Pregnancy's completely gross," Toph announced. "Maybe not as gross as men, but still."

Katara sighed. Since Toph had decided that she was a lesbian, her opinions on the male part of the world's population worsened considerably.

"Toph, you used to crush on Sokka," she reminded the girl gently.

"That was, like, seven or eight years ago," Toph said, undeterred. "Also, your brother's quite decent for a guy."

Zuko coughed, and Mai sniggered. Toph laughed.

"Firecracker, even your wives know that you're basically a honorary girl," she said, punching Zuko on the arm.

The Fire Lord scowled, and turned towards his wives for reassurance.

"We think you're very manly," Mai said solemnly, embracing him.

"We even like your male parts," Katara added, taking Zuko's other arm. "Quite a lot, in fact."

"Eww." Toph stuck out her tongue. "Sometimes I really can't bear your cuteness. Yuck."

"It's not going anywhere, so better get used to it," Mai said, not unkindly.

Her words had, apparently, the effect of drawing Toph's attention; the tapping foot now turned towards Mai. Zuko imagined that it was examining her closely with thousands of tiny eyes, and instinctively drew Mai closer for protection.

"Nice boobs," Toph said at last, and raised her hand with the thumb up. "Very sexy."

"Thank you," Mai replied without missing a beat. Zuko gaped.

"You really shouldn't be talking like that to my wife," he exclaimed.

Toph grinned widely, and got to her feet with a loud thump, causing all the tableware to jump.

"Alright then. Duel time!" she said, rubbing her hands together. "You can pick your ground."

"You know you could just tell him that you want to spar, right?" Katara suggested feebly. She felt her head spinning again.

"What fun would that be?" Toph asked.

Zuko sighed. Inside, however, he was quite happy with this turn of events, as it saved him from enduring more of the awkward conversation.

"Okay. Let's go," he said, also getting up.

Mai and Katara looked at one another with some exasperation.

"Our landscape designer will cut himself," Mai said. "Again."

"Maybe Toph will make us a nice pond," Katara offered. Mai rolled her eyes, and took Katara's hand.

"Let's go," she said. "And let's hope we'll be able to stop them from causing too much damage."

*

The duel finished by pronouncing a draw, Katara took to healing the burns, scratches, wounds and bruises inflicted by Zuko and Toph on one another. Toph was relatively better off, since Zuko had been careful not to burn her too severely, but Zuko was sporting a few quite serious cuts.

"You were quite awesome," Katara told him seriously after she'd healed Toph, and sent her off to take a solid bath. "And so hot, too. We couldn't keep our eyes off you."

Zuko caught his breath sharply when Katara focused her healing on one particularly nasty scratch on his forearm.

"And your hands off each other," he remarked.

"That's what the sight of you does to us," Mai said. She was half-lying on the bed, one of her hands resting on her belly bump. "Mmm," she added appreciatively when Katara ripped Zuko's shirt off, and proceeded to tend to the cuts on his chest. She moved her hands methodically from one injured area of skin to another; at one point, Zuko suddenly gritted his teeth.

"This hurts," he said.

"Hmm," Katara covered the problematic spot with a little more water, and probed deeper. Zuko clenched his fists. "I don't think you've a broken rib," she said, starting to heal the area. "But it would probably be very badly bruised in several hours." Both her voice and moves were calm, focused, matter-of-fact; Zuko stared at her with adoration.

"Katara, you're a treasure."

Katara raised her head, and they kissed. "Okay, show me your back," she ordered.

Zuko's back bore no marks of his duel with Toph; it did, however, show light bruising and scratch marks left by Katara and Mai's fingers and nails. Katara smiled at these, and kissed Zuko's shoulder. She was in half a mind of suggesting a quickie, but then remembered the possibility of Toph's running in on them.

"Oh," Mai said suddenly. When they turned to look at her, she was pressing her hand to her belly.

"Is something wrong?" Zuko asked, immediately reaching to touch her. Katara was by her side in another moment.

Mai slowly shook her head.

"No… not wrong," she replied. "I think… the baby is moving."

Both Zuko and Katara moved at once, extending their hands towards Mai's belly.

"Is it kicking?" Zuko inquired, while Katara asked, "How does it feel?"

"Not kicking," Mai said. "More like fluttering around. I don't think you'll be able to feel it from the outside."

"Oh," Zuko said, and then, on impulse, leant down to kiss Mai's belly. "Hello," he said, and, before Katara had any time to speak, turned towards her, and kissed her stomach as well.

Driven by a sudden thought, Katara lay a hand on her belly, and focused her waterbending senses on the liquids around her baby. After a moment of eliminating outside stimuli, she could feel the tiny heartbeat, pulsating among the waves.

"Mine doesn't feel like moving yet, I guess," she announced with a smile. "But it's there alright."

Mai laughed, and kissed her over Zuko's head.

"We did know that," she said, running a finger down from Katara's neck towards her belly. "You're so much… rounder now than half a year ago."

Katara showed her the tip of her tongue; Mai leant in and kissed her again.

Zuko stared at them, his facial features all softened.

"I love you both so much," he said, moving to pull Mai and Katara in for a series of tight embraces and passionate kisses. They laughed, and replied in similar manner, hugging him close, and covering his face, neck, and ears in warm kisses.

There was a thumping on the door. Zuko nearly jumped, but Mai held him down in her arms, and continued to nuzzle his earlobe.

"Come in," Katara cried out.

"You're being schmoopy again, aren't you?" Toph asked, walking into the chamber. "I'm bathed. And your servants tell me the dinner's ready to be served."

"Just out of interest, have you been groping the maids again?" Mai inquired with mild curiosity.

"Nope. Not yet," Toph replied. "But some seemed quite awed by how well I did in the duel with Firecracker, so I might be throwing an orgy here before I leave."

"She's just joking," Zuko assured Mai, while Katara held a hand to her forehead. "Do we even have enough lesbian maids for an orgy?"

His wives both looked at him for a long moment, and then Katara stroked his arm.

"You might be surprised."

"How do you know which of them are lesbian?" Zuko asked suspiciously. Mai and Katara shared a look.

"It might have been a hiring requirement, so to speak," Mai ventured finally.

"We didn't want you to have to worry about being molested by the staff, our darling firebending husband," Katara added, standing on her tiptoes to kiss Zuko's ear.

"And look, it's worked out wonderfully," Mai said, and took Zuko's other arm. Slightly dumbfounded, he allowed them to lead him out of the bedchamber, and towards the dining area. Toph had already taken a place at the table, and was chatting up a servant.

Zuko could feel the beginnings of a headache.

*

In the late evening, they took a bath together, Zuko soaping up both his wives, Mai washing his and Katara's hair, and waiting for Katara to do hers. They sprawled lazily in the water, not needing to hurry anywhere, happy just being together. Katara lay on her back, enjoying the warm bath; after a while, she began to massage her spouses' backs with waterbending. Finally, Zuko dried them all with careful, gentle firebending.

Upon coming to the bedchamber, Mai was the first to climb the bed, not bothering to change from her bathrobe into any nightgown. She stretched her limbs pleasantly, and pulled Katara in for a long kiss the second her wife joined her on the bed. Their breasts and bellies brushed together; Mai entangled one of her hands in Katara's hair, stroking her wife's nipple with the fingers of another. Katara moaned softly into her mouth, and pressed herself against Mai's thigh.

Feeling the wetness of Katara's pussy, Mai inhaled sharply, and motioned for them to take a more comfortable position on the bed. Zuko, up to this moment sitting at the very edge of the bed, watching them carefully, drew Katara to rest her back against his chest, and began to slowly stroke her breasts. Mai smiled at him, and leant to kiss him over Katara shoulder; when she moved back, Zuko proceeded to nuzzle on Katara's ear, making her moan again.

"Please," she said, her eyes half closed in pleasure. "I want you – I – _oh_ – now."

Mai sat to Katara's side, and moved her hand through her wife's pubic hair, teasing Katara just for a while longer. Finally, she slid her hand lower, gently stroking Katara's lips, before putting two of her fingers inside Katara's cunt, and her thumb over Katara's clit. Katara moaned, and spread her legs further, allowing Mai for easier access.

With Zuko caressing her breasts, and Mai finger fucking her with increasing intensity, it didn't take very long for Katara's legs to begin to shake. Mai watched her wife dig her nails into their husband's arm, and tense for a long moment, before she shivered and came around Mai's fingers, with a loud, wordless cry. She fell back into Zuko's arms; he kissed Katara's neck, telling her words of love, until she stopped making small sounds.

Aroused and anxious to get her fill, Mai kissed Katara again, and her not-so-subtle motioning for her wife to move out of the way soon elicited the desired response. Katara smiled, and rolled to the side of the bed, where she lay, watching her spouses share a long, passionate kiss.

Just seconds after, Mai finally straddled Zuko's hips, causing him to gasp. They wasted no time; Mai was more than wet enough after touching their wife, and Zuko very aroused from holding Katara, as well as from watching them both. Putting his hands on Mai's buttocks, he raised her slightly, and easily slid inside her. Mai sighed, and rocked her hips. She raised her hand, still slippery with Katara's wetness, to Zuko's mouth; as he slowly licked her fingers, and then the palm of her hand, she started to clench her muscles around him. Zuko buckled, and began to move against her. She didn't need to tell him what to do; he knew well how to please her best. His hands brushed delicately against her breasts, circling them, before he lightly pinched her nipples.

"Oh, that's good," Mai sighed. She leant backwards, arching her spine, allowing Zuko a full view of her newly heavy breasts and small belly. Her husband made an appreciative sound; for a moment, he just watched Mai move against him, his breathing becoming shallower and more laboured. At last, Zuko started rocking his hips, thrusting slowly to meet Mai's rhythm. A short while later, he slid his hand down her belly, eventually managing to insert a finger between Mai's thighs. She gasped, clenching around him with more strength. Her moves became more erratic, as she rubbed her clit against his finger. She came to the sound of Zuko repeating her name, feeling his hands on her buttocks, pushing her harder onto him.

"Sleepy," Mai murmured a few minutes later, when they managed to disentangle, and lie down together, her in the middle between Zuko and Katara. She rested her head against Zuko's shoulder, inhaling his scent, a pleasant warmth in her stomach. She fell asleep without forming another coherent thought.

*

It was the next day during the dinner when Toph revealed to them the reason behind her visit.

"You guys remember Kuei? The Earth King?" she said,

Zuko nodded vaguely. "Yeah."

"Unfortunately," Mai sighed.

"He asked me to marry him and become the Earth Queen," Toph declared.

Zuko choked on his wine; Katara opened her mouth to say something, and closed it again. Mai just stared.

"But... how? Why? How? _Why_?" Zuko managed eventually.

"Well, I kinda am nobility, not to mention that my parents have a shitload of money," Toph explained absently. "Plus, I'm probably the only girl he knows better than just in passing. And ever since you guys decided to spawn, his advisors have been grilling him about lacking a heir."

"But..." Zuko attempted again, and gave up. "He does realize you're into girls, doesn't he?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't," Mai said suddenly. "I mean..." She paused, apparently at a loss for words. "Well, let's just state for the record that he's possibly the least sexual creature in the known universe, and leave it at that."

"He isn't that bad," Katara protested feebly.

"He creeped me out," Mai replied. "Even by himself. And then there was the bear. I mean... A _bear_. I don't even want to know."

Zuko frowned; he and Katara exchanged looks of surprise. It was uncommon for Mai to sound disturbed; she did happen to voice her disgust time and again, but this, somehow, sounded different.

"We got to know him a little in Ba Sing Se, and he really isn't that bad," Katara said soothingly. "Just, you know, a victim of a very sheltered upbringing."

"I also had sheltered upbringing," Mai pointed out. "And I manage to go around not creeping people out every time I open my mouth."

"That's because you're clearly a superior and much more awesome human being," Katara said, and Mai smiled, appearing somewhat placated.

"Hello? I'm the one with the actual problem here," Toph said, banging her chopsticks against the wood of the table. "Will you help me or not?"

"What have you done thus far?" Katara asked. "How did you reply Kuei?"

"Laughed. Made it all a joke," Toph replied. "And then left the palace and Ba Singe Se, and came here as fast as I could."

Mai put a hand to her forehead.

"Any plans for the future?" she inquired.

"Well, I thought I could send my servants home, maybe borrow one or two of your staff, and spend some time hiding in that house of yours on Ember Island, while you divert the Earth King's attention," Toph announced joyfully. "Don't worry – I'll just need one maid and one cook. You'll make do without them."

"How exactly should we divert the Earth King's attention?" Zuko asked grimly. He thought that the whole mess could have been avoided if they hadn't returned Ba Sing Se into the Earth King's rule after his coronation, and felt vaguely embarrassed by that thought. "A coup d'état?"

"We could send a circus to Ba Sing Se," Mai said, and shrugged upon Katara's heavy look. "What? He's so infantile that he'd probably _be_ distracted."

"I suppose we could try finding him a more suitable wife than Toph," Katara suggested.

"A nanny, more like," Mai murmured.

Toph snorted.

"Maybe Suki knows some girl," Katara mused, ignoring her wife's addition to the conversation. "Ba Sing Se could always use some more Kiyoshi warriors."

"I think that a coup d'état sounds like a more viable option," Mai decided.

"Well, none of them has to _marry_ the Earth King," Katara pointed out. "But they might flirt with him, so that he'd see there are other girls in the world."

Mai sighed deeply. "This is so pathetic," she said. "I'm _so_ glad you're not like him, Zuko."

"I didn't really have a choice," Zuko said, thinking about Azula. Mai leant over, and kissed him.

Toph made a disgusted noise. "Does this mean I can use your beach house?" she asked.

"Just… don't ruin it," Zuko replied after a moment's thought. "Future generations might want to spend holidays there."

Katara smiled, and kissed his temple. Zuko embraced her with his arm, holding Mai close with another.

Toph made another face.

"I'm so glad I'll be leaving soon," she said. "You're really getting just _too_ gross."


	3. Chapter Three

Soon after Toph had left for the beach house it became apparent that none of Zuko's long-postponed official trips could be put off any longer. There were matters to attend all over the Fire Nation, not to mention a number of noblemen and women inviting the Fire Lord for a visit. Zuko was particularly unenthusiastic about the latter, and even less so about the fact that he was to visit his in-laws, Mai's parents.

"My mother likes you," Mai pointed out when he complained for the umpteenth time. "She _dotes_ on you. And she'll love having you over."

"Especially when she doesn't have to bear having _me_ around," Katara said, and then trailed off for a moment, appearing to have thought of something else. "Hey, how does she treat your brother?"

Mai shrugged.

"Pretty well, considering he was this enormous embarrassment to her," she replied, and, upon their surprised gazes, explained, "You know, his coming _did_ reveal that they were still having sex."

"That must have been terrible for her," Katara said.

"You have no idea."

"Are you sure you will be fine without me?" Zuko asked, sounding extremely impatient. "Because if you're not, I can stay for the sake of your well-being."

"We will miss you in every waking hour," Mai promised solemnly, without even batting an eye. Arguing with Zuko on such matters didn't make much sense; she just took it in stride.

"Either way, you must write me every day," Zuko said. "And send for me if anything happens. I'll just come straight back."

"Of course we will," Mai replied, still perfectly calm.

"Anything _at all_."

"You know we will," Katara said. "Not that anything will happen."

"You never know!"

"Shh," Mai said, and lay a small kiss on Zuko's lips. "Everything will be fine. We won't forget about you."

Zuko scowled.

"You're saying that now," he said. "And when the babies are born, you won't give me a second thought."

"Is it about what happens when the babies are born or about what happens in your absence?" Katara inquired, a small smirk upon her lips. "Because I'm getting a little confused."

"It's about everything," Zuko said, and then caught himself. "I'm sorry. I'm just feeling a little insecure."

Katara and Mai stared at him blankly for a long minute.

"I think that's the first you've apologised," Mai exclaimed, surprised.

"Oh Zuko," Katara added, hugging him close. "You know we love you the most."

"We do think about you all the time. And when the babies are born, nothing will change," Mai said, kissing him again. "I mean, why would it? Your awesomeness is not going anywhere, is it?"

Zuko allowed himself to be somewhat placated, although the scowl did not entirely disappear from his face.

Later that day, they all went to take care of their respective duties. After two and a half hours of going after espionage reports, Mai decided that she'd had enough and she left her study to check on her spouses. On her way to Zuko's office, she intercepted a handful of papers from one of the servants.

Zuko was so engrossed in his reading that he did not seem to notice her entrance. She glided towards him as gracefully as her messed up sense of balance allowed, the belly pulling her weight in the direction of the ground.

"Your Grace, these are the documents you requested," she said in a polite tone.

He lifted his head in surprise.

"I didn't hear you come in," he said and rose to kiss Mai, before pulling her to sit in his lap.

"We'll break the chair," she said, quite breathlessly. Zuko slid his fingers through her hair.

"You're not that heavy yet," he replied, kissing her again. "Besides, Uncle Iroh used to sit in this chair, and nothing ever happened."

Mai laughed. "How are you, Your Fire-Lordness?" she asked. "Making your way through the backlog, I see?"

"I can't leave it to you, can I," Zuko said. "You both have enough duties as it is."

"I like how you look after us," Mai remarked. "We are really going to miss you, you know."

Zuko nodded. "So am I."

"It's better to get these visits out of the way now, though," Mai continued, stroking his ear. "And be home when we give birth."

Zuko's face went white for a moment.

"That's true, it's becoming a closer and closer eventuality," he said, his voice sounding somewhat weak. Mai looked at him thoughtfully.

"You're not going to freak out, are you?" she inquired matter-of-factly.

"No!" Zuko asserted with force. "Maybe?" he added in a far less certain manner.

Mai sighed.

"Since it's not an immediate threat, I'd say for now we focus on more pressing matters," she said in her best official voice, making a mental note to raise the subject later when talking to Katara.

Zuko attempted to glare at her for a moment, and then gave up, and inclined his head to kiss Mai again.

Two days later they spent a good hour saying their goodbyes, Zuko's counsellors grinning politely while silently praying that the Fire Lord would not decide to cancel the trip at the last possible moment.

"Remember to write," Zuko said one last time, and they kissed once more, before he got onto the ostrich horse and slowly rode away.

Mai and Katara linked their hands, and went back to the palace, tightly embraced.

*

Katara's baby was the first to actually start kicking.

It happened when Katara and Mai were fitting and discussing new clothes with their dressmaker. The beautiful Earth Kingdom fabrics brought over by Zuko's Uncle Iroh were finally being put to use, cut and shaped around the Fire Ladies' expanding figures. Since Mai had suggested that instead of regular dresses, they should go for kimonos, whose tightness could be adjusted as their bellies grew, the dressmaker was trying her considerable skills with that design.

Katara allowed the maids to wrap her in a layer of sea blue fabric, her arms outstretched, when she felt it: a kind of knocking on the inner side of her belly, quite gentle at first, and then much more decisive.

"It's kicking!" she exclaimed, causing the maids to drop pins. "Mai, you must feel it – my baby's kicking!"

Mai put her hand to Katara's belly, and a moment later they were cooing together in delight. Then, Katara stroked Mai's bump.

"And how about you, hmm?" she asked, leaning over towards her wife, to the great exasperation of the maids and the dressmaker. "Aren't you tired of just fluttering around?"

"It's much better composed than yours, obviously," Mai said lightly. "I can already bet that your baby's dramatizing will exceed Zuko's."

"Now that's a scary thought," Katara remarked. Mai smiled, and they kissed; the dressmaker just sighed.

Later that day, they sat together in the study to read the latest letter from Zuko. The epistle was fastidiously and elegantly sealed in order to protect the text from the eyes of unwanted readers. Since the body of the letters usually consisted of a few short paragraphs updating the Fire Ladies on Zuko's latest endeavours, followed by a much longer part in which Zuko described – fairly graphically – how he missed and fantasised about his wives, this precaution was probably for the best.

"In some two, three hundred years Fire Nation school kids will be storming the libraries for Fire Lord Zuko's porn letters," Mai reflected fondly, unrolling the letter on the desk. "I have to admit though, our husband's got talent in that matter."

"So it's not something they teach you in Fire Nation schools?" Katara joked.

"Not really. Besides, Zuko was _palace_ -schooled."

"Oh right. _Princes_ ," Katara said, rolling her eyes.

"He hated all his tutors, if I remember correctly," Mai added. "I suppose they followed Ozai's school of tough love, and didn't appreciate Zuko enough."

"Must have worked out wonderfully," Katara remarked. "We should be grateful he learnt to read at all."

"I guess so. Of course, it was Azula who told me about that, and she probably exaggerated a lot," Mai said. "And at some point General Iroh got involved into Zuko's education, so that may explain how he did manage to learn some things."

"You know, I actually wouldn't put it past Iroh to teach Zuko to read on pornography," Katara said in a slightly horrified tone. Mai froze.

"Now that you mention it…"

"He'd probably decide Zuko would be more interested in porn than in poetry," Katara suggested. They shared a horror-struck look.

"This family," Mai exclaimed finally.

Katara nodded.

"Are we _sure_ we want our babies to be raised here? I'm quite sure my Dad wouldn't mind us quietly moving to the South Pole."

"We should be fine," Mai replied feebly. "If anyone attempts anything stupid, I will just threaten them with my knives."

This caused Katara to smile, and kiss Mai's neck.

"You're so adorable," she said. "Alright, back on topic. Think we should reply Zuko in a similar vein?"

"Oh, of course," Mai said, brightening up. "He should know we're thinking about him."

 _Beloved husband_ , they began. _We miss you. We keep thinking about your sexy, sexy body._

*

It was a few days later that Mai entered the bedchamber in order to change before dinner, only to find Katara sprawled on the bed, surrounded by a plethora of scrolls and books. For a moment she stood in the doorway, savouring the view; the pregnancy weight only made Katara look more beautiful, and Mai was more than appreciative of her wife's gorgeous body.

Only when Katara turned to glance at her did Mai make a move towards the bed.

"I thought you were out waterbending in the gardens," she exclaimed, climbing the bed with a little less ease than she would five months ago, and leaning to kiss Katara. "What are you doing here?"

"I did some waterbending, but it tired me out," Katara said, putting down the volume she was currently reading. "It's weird, but I feel like I have all this awesome potential for waterbending right now – maybe because of the additional liquids inside me – but I get exhausted so soon if I try anything more complicated."

"Have you tried finding out if this is normal?" Mai lay right next to Katara, resting on one elbow. "Did you write to your Master Pakku or anything?"

"Well, until eight years ago the Northern Water Tribe had only trained girls into healers, not waterbending fighters, so they wouldn't know anything," Katara sighed. "I guess I could ask Gran-Gran if she remembers anything from back when there were waterbenders in the South Pole."

"You do that," Mai said. "I want to be sure nothing will happen to you or the baby."

Katara smiled, and they kissed for a good long while. "I love you," she murmured into Mai's neck, and kissed her wife's collarbone as Mai reciprocated the statement.

"So, what are all these scrolls and volumes you're pouring over about anyway?" Mai asked after a moment, gesturing towards the pile of papers which covered the bed on Katara's other side. Before replying, Katara glanced towards them uneasily.

"I'm reading all I can find about midwifery," she explained eventually. "For when we go into labour."

"Why?" Mai asked, her cheek pressed to Katara's shoulder. "We're both going to get the best physicians and midwives in the Fire Nation. And they'd be fools to screw anything up and risk Zuko's wrath."

Katara snuggled to Mai.

"It's funny that 'wrath' is so appropriate in this context," she said.

"You didn't answer my question," Mai pointed out, a slight frown on her face.

"Well."

"Well?"

"Well. After a careful consideration, I've decided that your mother may be right," Katara said, and when Mai didn't reply, she went on, "Your baby should be born first and become Zuko's heir to the throne."

"I hate it when someone says that," Mai sighed. "I really do."

"What?"

" 'Your mother is right'. Ugh." Mai scowled in a way that could have put Zuko's worst facial impressions to shame. "Why does my baby need to be the Fire Lord?"

"Well, first, you come from nobility. Your child's claim to the throne should be less contested than that of a fisher girl's kid." Katara sat up, and looked at Mai seriously. "Second, there's a much bigger chance that your baby will be a firebender. And even Iroh says that nobody will let a non-bender become the Fire Lord. And third, unfortunately, here Fire Nation trumps Water Tribe."

Mai took the tirade in with a small nod.

"So what do you want to do?" she asked. "Babies don't exactly come out when you'd like them to. Tom-Tom was born on the eve of my parents' most important official party of the century. My mother was devastated."

"I _think_ that it would be possible to suggest your baby that it's time to be born, if I used an appropriate waterbending technique," Katara explained, and eyed Mai carefully. "I wouldn't do anything too early, of course. We'd try waiting until the due time, and then I'd try to cause the labour. What do you think?"

Mai stared at her impassively for a few seconds, and then suddenly embraced Katara tightly.

"I don't know. If you think you can do it, do," she said into Katara's neck. "I trust you. But I want you to be there with me throughout. Not to deliver the baby. Just to hold my hand."

"Of course I'll be there," Katara promised, and kissed Mai gently. "I wouldn't leave you alone."

Mai nodded. "Alright then. Find out more about this... waterbending thing."

"So it's settled?"

"I told you, I trust you." Mai curled up with her head on Katara's breasts, and sighed. "We should think what to do with Zuko, though."

Katara stroked her hair.

"You mean, we shouldn't tell him we're setting this up?"

"I suppose we could tell him about _that_ ," Mai replied slowly. "It could actually calm him down, since he's been freaking out about the ascendancy thing so much. But we need to think where to put him when either of us goes into labour."

"I wish there was a way to tell for sure he wouldn't dramatise too much, or faint," Katara said, her fingers combing gently through the strands of Mai's hair. "Because I don't think I'll be able to put up with that, and the midwives probably shouldn't see me chase him out of the room with a waterfall."

"That could seriously damage the image of our Fire Lord," Mai agreed. "And so could dramatic fits."

"I actually thought we could try giving him some of that calming tea brew," Katara said. "Though... in a slightly increased dosage?"

Mai sat back, and looked at her curiously.

"You're suggesting that we drug our husband, the father of our children, and the supreme ruler of the Fire Nation," she said.

"I didn't realize there would be so many people involved," Katara joked.

"It's a great idea," Mai said. "Do you want to tell Zuko beforehand, or should it be a surprise?"

"Well, he _will_ throw a fit if we tell him, so I guess we'd better not," Katara replied.

"I'm quite sure we're discussing high treason," Mai reflected lightly. "It typically results in capital punishment for all conspiring parties, you know."

"We're wicked, wicked wives," Katara murmured, pulling her wife closer, and starting to stroke her nape. "We deserve severe punishment."

"I miss spanking you," Mai said, and made a small sound when Katara's fingers run down the length of her spine. "That's the one thing I wish we could we doing that we can't."

Zuko had declared a moratorium on spanking pretty early on, arguing that it could hurt the babies, and after some back-and-forth they decided to oblige him in this one small detail, only to regret it just a day later. Still, a promise was a promise, and they were resolved to keep it, if only for the peace of Zuko's mind.

Mai cupped Katara's buttocks, and muttered something appreciatively. They kissed again, their breasts rubbing together.

"My beautiful," Katara said, kissing Mai's ear. "My beloved."

Mai inhaled sharply. "We don't have a lot of time before dinner," she pointed out, her hands running over Katara's back.

"I'm sure they will wait for the Fire Ladies," Katara replied, gently touching Mai's breast through the fabric of her kimono. "But if you want to, we can make this quick."

When Mai nodded, Katara smiled, and slid her hands under her wife's clothes. She began by removing Mai's holsters, a gesture that after the years of marriage still felt as intimate as snuggling in between her naked thighs. She then opened the kimono and returned her attentions to Mai's breasts, marvelling at their size and newfound softness. She circled Mai's nipples with her fingers, and then stroked them slowly, delicately, until Mai closed her eyes and moaned.

"What do you want me to do?" Katara asked, rising to kiss Mai's neck, and then mouth. "Tongue? Fingers? Water?"

Mai pulled her closer and kissed for a long while, and only then said, in a shaky voice,

"Fingers."

Katara nodded, her hand already sliding past Mai's belly, and into her undergarments. Although she found Mai's pussy already slick with wetness, it wasn't until a good few minutes later when she felt Mai start to shiver and finally come, with a loud moan, burying her face in the crook of Katara's neck. Katara rested her hand on Mai's pubic hair, and gathered her wife closer, covering her arms, neck, and ears with dozens of kisses.

"I like having you just to myself sometimes," she said into Mai's ear, stroking her back. "I could sit here, and kiss you for hours and hours."

Mai let out a small sigh, snuggling against Katara. "I know," she murmured.

"You'll take care of me in the bath later, won't you?" Katara asked, kissing Mai's ear again. "A nice, relaxing bath, my wife's tongue on my pussy..."

"Oh," Mai said, still quite breathlessly. "If you sit on the brink of the tub, and spread your legs out nice and wide, we should be able to do it."

"Sounds like a plan," Katara said.

They snuggled for some time longer, until finally deciding that it might do to have that dinner, for the benefit of their babies if not their own.

The servants didn't as much as bat an eye on their coming late and dishevelled. Then again, they had had more than enough time to get used to the habits of the royal threesome.

"A piece of chicken, Your Grace?" one of the serving maids inquired, stone-faced. Katara nodded.

They ate in silence, occasionally touching each other's hands and bellies.

*

Neither of the Fire Ladies was particularly surprised when the servants brought them news of Water Tribe ships being spotted off the coast. Katara's father was wont to pay his visits unannounced, and with Zuko away, the probability even increased.

Katara and Mai called for a royal carriage to take them outside the city, and greeted Hakoda – and Bato – as soon as the ships took anchor in the harbour.

"You seem to become more beautiful every time I see you," Hakoda said, looking with pride from his daughter to his daughter-in-law. "And still more beautiful now. How do you feel?"

"Fine, thank you," Mai replied, smiling. The coats and shawls they had put on to protect themselves from the chilly air did not mask their figures at this point in the pregnancy, and the passer-bys glanced towards them with curiosity and liking. "How was your journey?"

"It was very calm and pleasant," Bato told her, before giving her a gentle hug. "The sea is very quiet at this time of the year."

"We visited Sokka and his family on our way here," Hakoda added. "The girls gave us some things to pass on to you."

"How are they?" Katara asked. "I wrote to Suki a few weeks ago, and she hasn't replied yet. I was starting to worry."

"Everything's all right," Bato said soothingly. "Their youngest's teeth are coming out just now, so it's been pretty frantic over there."

"It's always pretty frantic over there," Mai remarked with a small smile. "Please, take seats in the carriage. I'll have it arranged for your crew and all things to be safely taken to the palace."

"We have a crate of baby things for you from your grandmother," Hakoda said when they were all comfortably seated.

"It would be three or more, but we managed to convince her that as Fire Ladies, you probably don't particularly lack any stuff," Bato added. "So she cut it down to the most essential items."

"You'd think she'd have more faith in me than in Sokka," Katara sighed.

"Thank the spirits that we persuaded her not to include walrus skins for baby hammocks," Bato said. "She almost disinherited your father over that one."

" _Baby hammocks_?" Mai mouthed towards Katara.

"I'll tell you later," Katara mouthed back, squeezing her wife's hand. "And how's Master Pakku? Did he say anything about what Gran-Gran's was packing?"

"He wisely chose to stay out of the way," Hakoda replied gravely. "He sends you a letter."

"So I understand that you're getting along well," Mai said pleasantly. "And the work on developing the South Pole community are progressing nicely?"

Hakoda launched into a long diatribe on the recent developments of the Southern Water Tribe village, aided by Bato. Katara zoned out after the first few sentences, full of gratitude and admiration for Mai's politeness, which made her appear interested in the things she was well familiar with from the political reports if not Katara's own remarks.

Her father, as always, seemed to enjoy the conversation with his daughter-in-law, a fact which filled Katara with a mixture of amusement and mild exasperation. For some reason, Hakoda remained permanently suspicious of Zuko, but enjoyed Mai's company very much. As Katara repeatedly pointed out to him, it didn't make much sense: Zuko was, typically, fluffy like a baby rabbaroo, while Mai could – and would – cut people up for crossing her path.

"And if you dislike him on principle for being Fire Nation, well, you should dislike them both," she had once said, only to be thoroughly ignored.

"We're not going to stay too long," Bato said when they almost reached the palace. "It will be whaling season soon, and we're having guests from the Northern Water Tribe coming to visit this year. But your father decided he wanted to see you before you give birth and no longer have time for others."

"I'm not sure we're really under the threat of losing all our time," Mai reflected. "We _are_ going to employ at least a few nurses and nannies."

"Yeah, we're definitely taking our cues from observing Suki and Ty Lee's experiences, you know," Katara added. She remembered well the mayhem brought into her brother's marriage when Ty Lee gave birth to her twin nephews; at that time, Suki and Ty Lee had insisted that they could deal with the children themselves. Very soon they were disavowed of this illusion, and wrote to Katara and Mai to ask for help in finding at least one nanny. _Don't judge, please. Sleep is good, we like sleeping together, and the boys seem to only be asleep one at a given time_ , they claimed.

"It's all very fine, but you'll see how the things look like in reality," Hakoda replied. "We'd offer all the help we could, but I suppose you will get more than enough."

Katara glanced at Mai, and then at Bato, who shrugged.

"Dad, have you run into Zuko on your way here?" Katara inquired. "Because you sound like you have."

Hakoda curtly shook his head.

"Was Ty Lee sharing any thoughts on the potential political complications regarding ascendancy?" Mai asked calmly. "Because one, any and all problems have already been taken care of, and two, Ty Lee is not really _that_ familiar with the protocol or all recent political developments."

"Are you sure?" Hakoda sounded, and appeared, deeply concerned; Katara wondered briefly what exactly Ty Lee could have said to him.

"Neither Zuko nor I would allow anyone to hurt Katara or any of _our_ children," Mai declared empathically. "You really don't have anything to fear."

"He really thought about whisking you out back to the South Pole," Bato told Katara in an undertone a little later on. "It's a good thing that Mai's got such a firm hold on these affairs."

"I know," Katara said, thinking about her wife with fondness. "She's a treasure."

Her father and Bato did, indeed, only spend a few days in the Fire Nation Capital. Once Hakoda was satisfied that his daughter was fine, he remembered his vehement dislike of the Fire Nation climate, and set on his way back to the Southern Water Tribe, inviting Katara and Mai for a visit in the summer, with the babies.

"Zuko will have a fit thinking about his newborn children travelling to the South Pole," Mai remarked, as they were both waving their goodbyes towards Hakoda and Bato's fleet. "You do realize that, don't you?"

"He will have to man up," Katara said decisively. "It's not that bad there, especially in the summer. And my family won't allow anything to happen to our children, either."

Mai smiled, and kissed Katara's cheek.

"I know they won't," she said. "We might need to convince Zuko about the benefits of ice and snow, though."

Katara mock-sighed.

"Not _again_."

As the carriage got on its way, they were still discussing how to best persuade Zuko to undergo the trip with them.

*

When Zuko finally returned to the palace, he almost burst into tears upon seeing his wives and their enlarged stomachs, emphasised by the cut of their new clothing.

"You look so beautiful," he said. "So stunning and gorgeous. I am so blessed to have found you."

"And I thought that _we_ were supposed to be moody and tear up at any occasion," Katara observed, but she allowed Zuko to gather her alongside Mai into his arms.

"How do you feel?" Zuko asked. "I brought you some gifts, but they are still with the servants."

" _Some_ gifts? I'm starting to feel worried," Mai joked, kissing his neck. "How many _carts_ are there?"

Zuko blushed slightly, and mumbled something incoherently. His wives exchanged amused glances.

"Are you hungry? Tired? Would you care for a bath?" Katara asked mercifully.

"Only if you go in there with me," Zuko replied, and kissed one and then the other. "I really missed you."

"So did we," Mai said, refraining from adding that Zuko's missing them could probably be felt by all the members of his delegation. It wasn't by chance that towards the end of his trips he was rarely made to listen to really serious cases; his counsellors waited with these until he returned to the capital, spent some time with his wives, and became less cranky. Performing Zuko-oriented damage control could be an art in and of itself, and Mai and Katara were probably its primary masters.

"I wouldn't mind just sitting down with you and resting for a while," Zuko said in an afterthought. "Maybe having something warm to drink."

"Something light to eat or nibble on? Some fruit? Maybe almonds?" Katara suggested.

Mai was already calling for the servants.

"You should probably change," she said, looking at Zuko's heavy travelling clothes. "It's quite warm in here."

There were already two servants appearing in the doorway.

"Bring some more comfortable indoor clothes for the Fire Lord to the front room," Mai ordered. "Send to the kitchen for tea and a light snack. And be quick about it."

They made their way towards the front room, never once breaking their embrace.

They settled on the couch, Zuko between the two of them; Mai paused only to remove the upholsters filled with daggers from her hips and calves. Zuko looked at her adoringly.

"I swear, you're both getting more beautiful by the day," he said. " _How_ do you feel?"

"Pretty well, thank you," Mai replied. "As we wrote you, both our babies are now kicking and moving around."

"You'll probably see after the dinner," Katara added. "They get quite active at that hour."

"It looks very funny, really," Mai said, making a move to help Zuko take off his travelling clothes. "Two shaking bellies."

"Dancing bellies," Katara remarked warmly, and they kissed over Zuko's head.

Having broken the kiss, Mai began to undo the clasps of Zuko's coat; at the same time, Katara did away with his crown piece, letting his hair fall freely to the sides.

"How are you?" Mai asked, looking with pleasure at their handsome husband. "You look tired."

"I'm starting to reconsider the whole hands-on ruling thing," Zuko said, performing the movements necessary for removing the coat, outer tunic, and then the vest, which he wore as the inner layer of his clothing. Once Zuko was half-undressed, they sat back on the couch; Mai put her hand on Zuko's torso, stroking lightly his warm skin. Katara, meanwhile, put her head on their husband's shoulder, snuggling close to him like a pretty, lazy lizardcat.

"What's wrong with hands-on ruling?" she inquired.

"The days spent on travelling, having to put up with strange bedrooms and stranger food, and being apart from you," Zuko explained. "When I could spend my time sitting in the throne room, and having all the problems brought to my attention there."

"You'd go crazy from boredom in a week, two at the most," Katara pointed out. Mai laughed.

"I wouldn't have to leave you for weeks at a time," Zuko protested. "And worry about you and miss you! When you are _pregnant_!"

"Yeah, but you'd join Azula in her hospital anyway," Mai said, leaning in to kiss him. Zuko reciprocated quite enthusiastically; they kissed for a while, before turning to draw Katara in, trying – as they did, and failed, about once per day – to work out the logistics of a three-people kiss.

They were interrupted by the servants, finally coming in with the ordered food and drinks, and a change of clothes for Zuko. Two maids put the snacks on the small table in front of the couch, while another carefully put the clothing items on another table before, unblinkingly, proceeding to gather the discarded clothes.

"Should we stay to help, Your Grace?" the maid asked. She glanced at the royal threesome, but instead of fixing her stare on Zuko's naked chest – as women usually did – almost immediately turned to look at Mai.

"Thank you, we're good," Mai said. All three of the maids bowed, and moved towards the door.

"Lesbians, huh?" Zuko remarked absently as the maids left the chamber. He reached for the cup of tea, and drank a sip or two. "Even the tea's better here."

"That's because it's made with _love_ ," Katara declared. Zuko smiled, and followed the tea with a tangerine and a handful of almonds. All the while, his wives wouldn't let go of him even for a moment, stroking his arms and torso, marvelling at his beauty.

"Have you lost weight?" Mai asked, moving her hand across the hollow of Zuko's stomach. The lower line of his ribs seemed more pronounced to her than it had been when he was leaving.

"I don't eat well when I'm away from the two of you," he explained, eating a few more almonds.

"Oh, poor love," Katara said tenderly, touching Zuko's stomach as well. "We do like you lean, but you shouldn't starve yourself, you know."

"I think what our dear husband is saying is that he missed eating pussy," Mai explained with a glimmer in her eye. "Don't worry, darling, we'll give you plenty of chances for that."

"I wish I didn't have a meeting to attend soon," Zuko replied, leaning back on the couch, a honest note of regret in his voice. "But I must be debriefed on the goings-on in the capital when I was away."

"Well then, you will need to change for that," Katara pointed out, her hand sliding downwards to the line of Zuko's pants. "Here, let us help you with that."

They undressed him quickly, and, in unspoken agreement, pushed him gently back onto the couch when he attempted to make a move towards the new clothes. Katara immediately went back to stroking Zuko's chest, while Mai, regretting a little that she had no easy access to Zuko's buttocks, reached to touch his cock.

Zuko inhaled sharply.

"I really-" he began, but didn't protest when he was interrupted by a kiss from Katara. Soon enough, Mai could feel him grow hard under her fingers, and buckle his hips a little, so that she would touch him more intently.

She smiled, and leant closer to Zuko's ear. Katara, breaking the kiss, looked at them curiously.

"We really did miss you," Mai murmured, brushing her breasts against Zuko's arm. "We thought about you when in bed," she added, and licked the underside of his ear, making Zuko catch his breath. "But you know that, don't you? You did read our letters."

Zuko gasped as she stroked his cock, and nodded, his eyes wide.

"They were – ah – quite explicit," he managed.

"We tried our best to excite your imagination," Mai said. "And you did get off to them, didn't you? To the thought of Katara and me in our bed, naked, touching each other?"

Zuko couldn't but breathe shallowly, and nod again; Mai smiled. She could feel Katara's hand joining hers on Zuko's cock; at the same moment their wife tilted her head to Zuko's other ear, starting to kiss and nibble gently upon it.

"Well, good," Mai murmured. "Because we quite enjoyed reading your letters before the bedtime. Reading about how you wanted to stroke us and please us-" She deliberately paused, before continuing, in a lowered voice, "-and _fuck_ us."

At this, Zuko moaned openly, and arched his hips. Mai glanced over his head, knowing it wouldn't take long at this point, and nodded at Katara, both of them increasing the pressure, and the rhythm of their strokes.

"Tonight in bed, I want you to do us really good and proper," she went on. "We're still very horny, both of us" – Zuko gasped for breath – "and I have to tell you, Katara's ass is to die for right now."

Zuko let out a deep, guttural moan, and came over their fingers. Mai kissed his ear, and then his jaw, and the corner of his mouth, before snuggling to him even closer, linking hands with Katara over his stomach as their husband strove to breathe regularly.

"I love you both so much," he said after a couple of minutes, his voice still a little shaky. "So very much. And you are so absolutely beautiful."

"So, it's going to be one of these days when you attend the meetings all dazed and grinning?" Katara asked, kissing him. "Just making sure."

Zuko attempted assuming a dignified expression, but the daze was still the most noticeable part of it. Mai giggled, and tickled his ribs, until Zuko caught her hand, and drew her in for another open-mouthed kiss.

"Probably. But only if I manage to get dressed," he admitted eventually, turning to kiss Katara again.

"Should I call the maids for help after all?" Mai suggested. " _They_ shouldn't feel compelled to molest you."

Katara laughed.

"See? We told you that the lesbian thing could come in handy."

Zuko smirked, and began to slowly get to his feet.

"The Fire Lord won't be thwarted by the need to _put on clothes_ ," he announced, making his way towards the neatly folded pile on the table.

Mai slid down on the couch, laying her head down on the armrest, and her legs in Katara's lap.

"But only because the Fire Ladies won't fight for him to stay naked," she said languidly. " _This time_."

She felt a surge of tenderness and love upon seeing Zuko's amusement at her words.

Truly, they did miss each other a lot.


	4. Chapter Four

Shortly before the Winter Solstice they received a letter from Azula’s doctors, suggesting that it could be beneficial for the progress of the Fire Princess’ therapy if she were to spend a week or two with her family. Then, if the results appeared positive, she could be permanently released from her lock-up.

“Are you positive it’s not a ruse?” Zuko asked, examining the letter with deep suspicion. “I mean, can we tell for certain that she hasn’t bribed her doctors into pronouncing her healthier than she is, while she’s actually planning a triple assassination?”

“I think at this stage it might be deemed a _quintuple_ assassination,” Katara provided, and although she intended the comment to be light, she couldn’t but feel somewhat worried herself.

“I did have the backgrounds of all her physicians and nurses looked into, ditto for all new staff, and I do receive a quarterly report on her progresses,” Mai said. “This doctor appears fairly trustworthy, as far as I can tell. Plus, last time I visited Azula, she did seem to be doing much better. She wasn’t even _that_ snipy when she found out we were pregnant.”

“Praise the spirits,” Zuko mumbled. “I was afraid she’d at once decide she needed a baby of her own.”

“So we’re thinking ‘kidnapping’ or ‘incestuous conception’ instead of ‘assassination’, right?” Katara asked. “Just making sure if I understand Azula’s brain.”

Zuko covered his eyes with a hand. “Yup. That’s my lovely little sister. If any of our children takes after her, I swear I’ll bite through my own wrists.”

“Please don’t. These are very sexy wrists,” Katara said.

“And if she tries to exert her influence over our kids,” Zuko continued gloomily. “I… I might need to check into that mental facility myself.”

Mai assumed a blank face.

“I may have threatened to cut her up if she touched anything that belonged to _me_ ,” she said absently. “Don’t fret, Zuko. She’ll behave. She’ll have to. And if she doesn’t, I’ll make her.”

“I like the way you’re thinking,” Zuko admitted. “So do we really have to invite her over? Can’t she just behave in the hospital?”

Katara nodded vigorously. Mai sighed.

“Well, I thought there was a reason for putting her in a _mental facility_ instead of a prison,” she pointed out. “If the doctors say it’ll do her good to spend some time with her family, we should try to help her.”

Zuko watched her for a moment, and then put a hand to his forehead again.

“Whatever you say,” he said feebly. “Just don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.”

And so one fine wintery afternoon the Fire Princess Azula arrived at the palace of her ancestors, accompanied by a well-selected team of nurses and doctors. The first thing Katara noticed was that her sister-in-law’s features seemed a lot softer; after a moment she realized that Azula had put on a little weight since the last time they’d seen each other.

The second thing Katara noticed was Azula’s new hairstyle, much shorter, and entirely devoid of the traditional top knot.

“That’s a really good cut,” Katara said after the greetings were exchanged, Zuko visibly anxious and keeping an eye on Azula.

Azula instinctively lifted a hand to touch her hair.

“Thank you,” she said. “You’re also both looking… really nice. Motherhood seems to become you.”

The head nurse beamed.

“Very good, Princess Azula,” she declared. “You should keep on this line of behaviour.”

Azula rolled her eyes slightly, dispelling Katara’s suspicions that she had been completely brainwashed at her mental facility.

“ _Please_ ,” she said. “Allow me to interact with my family without your constant commentary.”

Zuko raised his eyebrows, and exchanged quick looks with Katara, both of them still rather doubtful as to whether Azula was indeed all that interested in family interactions.

“I see Zuko’s taking his duty of being Father of the Nation very seriously,” had reportedly been Azula’s reaction to the news of Katara and Mai’s pregnancies. “Then again, he’s always been an overachiever.”

“I’d never have thought you’d both spawn at once,” Azula said, walking into the living spaces of the palace. Her choice of words made Katara think about Toph. “Though I suppose it does make some sense.”

“We try to think about that bright side of things,” Zuko replied solemnly, and only half-ironically. Mai sighed quietly.

“Just one thing I’ve been wondering about,” Azula added, and, looking curiously at her sisters-in-law, asked, “Which of you got the consolation prize?” Upon Katara’s blank stare, she clarified, “ _Waah, the other one’s pregnant, I want to have a baby too!_ ”

“Actually, we became pregnant at roughly the same time,” Katara explained in a dignified voice.

Azula’s eyes glimmered.

“Oh, that’s quite _adorable_ ,” she said. “Did you _plan_ for that?”

“We entertained the possibility,” Mai replied calmly.

“We did?” Zuko asked in a stage whisper, causing Katara, once again, to feel amazed at their ability to share the most personal information while the servants were in the room.

Mai’s face froze a little as she gave Zuko a long look.

“I do remember that we decided it might be the time to start having babies,” Zuko hastened to add.

Azula laughed merrily.

“You know, back when we were little, I told Zu-Zu that in order to make children, a woman had to bite off man’s cock with her vagina,” she said dreamily. “He was traumatised for _months_.”

“That’s so cruel,” Katara exclaimed, grabbing Zuko’s hand sympathetically.

“Where would second and next children come from, though?” Mai asked after a moment’s consideration.

“Oh, I told him that it grew back, eventually. And painfully.”

“You also claimed that I had been adopted,” Zuko reminded her gravely.

“You were such an easy mark, Zu-Zu,” Azula said wistfully.

“In the Southern Water Tribe, children were told that babies were fish that jumped into women’s mouth and set down in the stomach area,” Katara said. “Or that they came from the fishing holes in the ice. I always wanted to find a baby when I went fishing.”

“Of course you did,” Mai said with a smile.

“It’s so nice of my brother to have put one inside you,” Azula said. “And to finally get over the trauma, too!”

“Being told where babies come from can be upsetting, alright,” Zuko exclaimed. “I was young and impressionable.”

They all looked towards Mai, who shrugged.

“I was told what’s what when I was like four or five,” she said. “All very precise and matter of fact. I asked one of my nannies, she took it to my mother, and mother descended into my room to explain things to me.” Mai’s voice or expression did not change one bit, but still Katara embraced her, instinctively.

“You missed out a lot, not having siblings your own age,” Azula said. “Which, hey, your kids already have! Good for them!”

“Azula, when you’re trying to be upbeat, you kinda freak me out,” Mai said.

“The doctors do advise me to try a more positive attitude towards other people’s successes,” Azula replied. “I should be lauded, not criticised.”

Mai raised her eyebrows.

“I do have a letter from your doctors, you know,” she said. “Telling us how to treat you.”

Azula snorted.

“You know, there are some people at the institute who are much further gone than me!”

“That’s not unlikely,” Katara admitted politely.

“For instance, there are more than five girls who are completely obsessed with Zu-Zu! And some guys, too.”

“That’s, too, not unheard of,” Mai pointed out.

“Believe me, not at _this_ level.”

“Are they hospitalized because of being obsessed with me?” Zuko asked, a note of alarm in his voice.

“No, paranoid delusions and schizophrenia,” Azula replied lightly. “Probably some other stuff. Do you think I pay attention?”

Zuko fumed.

After that, the visit progressed quite comfortably. Zuko and Azula had a few squabbles, but, as Katara explained to Mai, these were only to be expected between siblings.

“I never actually imagined myself as an aunt,” Azula exclaimed during the breakfast on the second day of her stay, after having stared for some time at Katara’s stomach. That day the baby bump was much better exposed, due to the close-fitting cut of Katara’s dress. “Interesting. Are there any particular duties that aunts are expected to perform towards the nephews and nieces?”

“Probably just play with them a little,” Katara said uncertainly. She couldn’t really picture Azula running around after a small child; not that Zuko would allow any such thing, obviously.

“That, and impart a life lesson or two in spare time,” Mai suggested.

Zuko didn’t say a word, though judging by the look of his face he was fighting hard not to envelop both his pregnant wives in a protective embrace, and hide them from any possible influences from Azula.

“Oh, just like Uncle Iroh did. Which reminds me,” Azula said, playing with her chopsticks, “don’t ever banish them and appoint me their company. I’m not fit for the mentoress role.” She took in Zuko’s look of surprise, and explained, “I am told to acknowledge my shortcomings. Which I just did. What do you think?”

“Uh, nice,” Zuko attempted. “I appreciate. Although I’d never send a child of mine into exile.”

“What if they behaved like I had?” Azula asked, her voice sounding quite flippantly, despite breaking in the middle of the sentence.

Zuko counted to five, feeling Mai’s hand close sharply on his wrist.

“I would find them necessary help and care here,” he said, and shrugged. “I wouldn’t send them out alone into the world.”

“You’re such a _sap_ , Zu-Zu,” Azula declared, but blinked several times, and didn’t speak for a longer while.

Mai kissed Zuko’s cheek, and snuggled to his side.

“I love you,” she murmured.

They all went on a short trip around the capital, showing Azula the changes that had taken place in the city’s architecture after the day of Sozin’s Comet.

“Seems we did the city some good after all,” Azula remarked when they came back to the palace. “These old houses in Azulon Square had been hideous.”

“That’s true,” Zuko agreed. “I’m glad they decided to redesign them.”

“There’s no statue of you, though,” Azula said. “What’s up with that? Have you become too _modest_ after hanging out with the Avatar?”

Zuko blushed deep crimson. Katara and Mai laughed.

“There _was_ a statue,” Katara said.

“Please,” Zuko groaned helplessly. Azula looked at him with unmasked interest.

“The crowds were doing, um, _unspeakable things_ to it,” Mai explained. “Every night.”

“Every day.”

“Every moment of every day.”

“Despite the presence of the guards.”

“Oh, probably with their _help_.”

Azula giggled. “I think I get the picture,” she said.

“It’s not your fault you’re so good looking and desirable,” Katara told Zuko, stroking his arm. Zuko, mortified, just glared.

“Anyway, after just a couple of months, Zuko ordered for the statue to be taken down,” Mai concluded. “And of course, it was promptly stolen.”

“It was _not_ ,” Azula said, laughing again.

“We were a little concerned about that,” Katara added. “It was funny when the crowds were going crazy, but someone molesting a statue of our husband in the privacy of their house? Ugh.”

“I see your point,” Azula conceded, a little absent-mindedly, as if losing attention. “Hey. Speaking of private houses. Does the old beach house on the Ember Island still stand?”

“Why shouldn’t it?” Zuko asked, relieved to hear the change of topic.

“Well, I did hear you once chased the Avatar around the upper floor and burned down part of the roof,” Azula explained, and shrugged. “The news _does_ get around, Zu-Zu.”

“We had it renovated about two years ago,” Katara said. “Once more pressing concerns were out of the way.”

Azula nodded. “Oh right.”

“Why do you ask?” Zuko inquired, typically suspicious of his sister’s motivations.

“I might like to spend a few weeks there,” Azula said, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. “My doctors say that a change of climate might do me good.”

Zuko glanced at Mai, the keeper of the letters from Azula’s doctors; she nodded her assent. Then he remembered about the house’s being occupied.

“Uh, you might not want to go there,” he said hesitantly. “Toph’s hanging out at the beach house right now. You remember Toph? The earthbender.”

“Why? Why is she there, I mean.”

They explained the thing with the Earth King. Azula’s eyes widened.

“That poor girl,” she said. “I don’t blame her. The guy is bonkers. And probably crap in bed, too.”

“Yes,” Mai deadpanned. “Bear crap.”

“Also, there’s that thing with her being lesbian,” Katara remarked. Zuko turned his head, and hid his face in Mai’s arm, hoping against hope that Azula wouldn’t get any ideas.

“The Earth King didn’t get the memo?” Azula asked only. “Of course not. Well, I’ll try not to get into her way if she doesn’t get into mine.” She glanced towards Zuko and _giggled_ again, causing his stomach to flip unpleasantly. Somehow, it sounded more sinister when it wasn’t a reaction to his wives’ jokes. “Relax, Zu-Zu, I’m not going to kill her. I’m very pacifist-minded right now.”

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate that thought,” Zuko said morosely. “But you really must keep yourself in check, unless you want to start a war.”

“War,” Azula replied dreamily, and then seemed to take a deep breath. “No, of course. Another war would be bad. Very bad. Terrible.”

“Would you like to take your pills?” Mai asked stoically, motioning for the nurse, who kept a little to the back.

“Yes, please,” Azula said. Zuko and Katara exchanged impressed looks.

Azula swallowed a handful of pills, and took another deep breath. They watched her in silence for a few long minutes. “Alright,” she said at last. “I’m fine now. No, Zu-Zu, I’ll make nice with Toph. Promise. Word of a princess.”

Zuko sighed.

“If you say so,” he said finally. “I can’t really forbid you to go there, can I?”

Azula gave him a long look.

“Well, you _can_. You _are_ the Fire Lord. Duh.”

Zuko assumed his best royal impression, trying not to be daunted by his wives’ sniggering.

“Let’s say I’m being charitable,” he said.

Azula made a doubtful face, but didn’t comment.

“I’m not sure if I trust her in the vicinity of our friends,” Katara told Zuko later that afternoon. “Even if she takes a nurse or a doctor with her.”

“Toph _is_ a master bender,” Mai said. “And I do think Azula’s doing much better now.”

“That’s true, she didn’t try to kill us and she actually talked _with_ and not just _to_ us,” Katara agreed. “Still.”

“Well, I’m not going to let her go there without any supervision,” Zuko said. “Uncle Iroh did mention that he wanted to open a new outlet of his tea chain on the Ember Island. I’ll write to him and suggest he went there a little sooner and checked up on Toph and Azula.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Katara said.

“You know, you’re treating Toph more like a little sister than Azula,” Mai remarked.

“Maybe I’m biased towards the one who didn’t repeatedly try to kill me,” Zuko replied bitterly. “By the way, why do you keep looking out for Azula? You did spend some quality time in prison thanks to her.”

“I also went to Ba Sing Se and got together with you thanks to her,” Mai said. Zuko blinked in surprise.

“If you look at it like that, I guess that we also owe our conversation in the Ba Sing Se palace caves to Azula,” Katara said thoughtfully.

Zuko groaned.

“Honestly? I don’t care,” he declared. “Can we talk about something nicer? Us? You? The babies? _How_ are the babies? Are they kicking? I want to feel the kicking.” He gathered them close, putting his hands over their bellies.

“You’re adorable, o husband of ours,” Katara said, kissing his neck. “What do you say to sex?”

Zuko happily admitted that sex sounded exceptionally nice.

*

Peaceful though Azula’s visit might have been, it still left the royal threesome feeling quite exhausted. While Katara and Zuko were frustrated with the necessity to keep their temperaments in check, and to juggle the appropriate conversation topics, Mai felt tired of her role as the peacekeeper between her beloved spouses and her former best friend.

Thus, they decided that it was only appropriate that they would rest for a couple of days before returning to their regular schedules; after all, the duties couldn’t but suffer if they took to them exhausted and unprepared for the task. They retreated to the bedchamber, forbidding any disturbances under strictest punishment.

After a fair share of marital debauchery, Mai demanded that Zuko give her a long and soothing back massage. She sat on the edge of the bed, arranging her hair so that it wouldn’t cover her back; Zuko, cross-legged, took a seat behind her.

“Tell me if my hands are too hot,” Zuko said, resting his palms on Mai’s shoulders.

When Mai’s only response was an appreciative sigh, he wasted no time in starting the massage.

Behind their backs, Katara was lying half-covered on the bed, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.

“You know, we should start considering baby names,” she suggested, stifling a small yawn.

Zuko pondered this for a moment, while pressing onto Mai’s upper back with the palms of his hands. At this point he knew the motions well enough that he didn’t have to consider them much, altering the intensity of his movements only on Mai’s non-verbal cues.

“When you say ‘we should start’, do you mean that we should _start_ , or that _we_ should, and you’re already halfway there?” he asked.

“A little bit of both,” Katara replied. “I _do_ know that if I give birth to a girl, I’d like her name to start with ‘k’. It’s something of a tradition in my family.”

“Alright,” Zuko said. “What was your mother’s name? Kya?”

“Oh no, I don’t want any names after relatives dead or alive,” Katara protested at once. “It always weirds me out.”

Mai muttered something that sounded like agreement, and then let out another sound of approval when Zuko pressed his fingers along the length of her spine.

“I quite like Kai, for a girl,” Katara said. “It’s nice. Simple. And it starts with ‘k’.”

“Kai,” Zuko repeated cautiously.

“Yup.”

“That… sounds like Katara and Mai ran together.”

Zuko could feel Mai’s back tensing a little under his hands, and he applied more careful pressure to the appropriate points, soothing her distress.

Katara considered his words in silence.

“It’s still a nice name.”

“It completely ignores _me_! I’m the father! You should acknowledge that!” He raised his hands to gesticulate wildly, causing Mai to sigh in displeasure, and pinch his calf. He hastily put his finger back on her shoulders.

Katara sat up on the bed behind them.

“Believe me, I do,” she said. “Any time I feel an overwhelming wave of nausea approaching, I acknowledge you very fondly.”

“Um,” Zuko paused. “I thought my uncle’s tea helped with that?”

“It does, but how much of that can I drink?” Katara sighed, and lay a small kiss on his nape, her snuggling by his side making massaging Mai quite a challenge. “I do feel much better these days, but I would appreciate being able to eat something heavier and not have to lie down for an hour afterwards. Anyway. Kai.”

Zuko decided to use the heavy artillery.

“Any time I’d call her name, I’d think about challenging someone to an Agni Kai,” he said. “Or, you know, _being challenged_. I may still have some lingering trauma after that time _my father burnt my face_.”

Katara sighed into his ear.

“Well, it did leave you with a very sexy scar,” she stated.

Zuko took a deep breath, trying not to hit his forehead with his palm.

“Any other ideas?” he asked. “Mai? What girl names starting with ‘m’ do you like?”

“My own,” Mai replied. “And have I told you to _stop_?”

Zuko kissed her hair.

“No, my lady. Please forgive me.”

“Miyo isn’t bad,” Katara suggested. “Or Masato, for a boy?”

Zuko made a disparaging noise, and then yelped, as Katara lightly bit him on the arm.

Mai laughed quietly.

“I know one that might be quite perfect for your daughter, Zuko,” she said. “Misao. _Loyalty_.”

“It does sound quite nice,” Zuko admitted, earning himself another bite from Katara. “I don’t know, I might have a problem coming up with something if we’re excluding family names.”

“No offence, but the last few generations of your ancestors were kinda evil,” Katara pointed out.

“Really.” Zuko snorted. He stroked Mai’s back, considering possible names for a long moment. “Well, Kaori might be an option. Or maybe Katsu. Kouhei for a boy, if you want it to start with ‘k’. I don’t know if there are any good ‘z’ names, though.”

“We can always make something up,” Mai suggested, before sighing happily, and putting Zuko’s arms on her belly. “Thank you. That was really very pleasant.”

Zuko kissed Mai’s neck and shoulders, cradling her in his arms. Katara attempted to fit behind his back to embrace them both, and, failing, made a dissatisfied noise.

“My stomach is too big,” she complained. “Also, it’s getting chilly. Turn up the heat, Zuko.”

Zuko laughed and, turning around, carefully tackled Katara to the bed, before proceeding to cover her collarbones and breasts with kisses.

“I’m too big for you on top, too,” Katara said, breathlessly, after a couple of minutes. “But I can lay on my side.”

“I love your ass,” Zuko gasped, lying behind her, and stroking the cleft between her buttocks. Katara moaned, and threw her leg over his, allowing Zuko to enter her just a short moment after. They moved against each other, Zuko’s hand finding Katara’s clit, and stroking her to the rhythm of his thrusts, until she came with a wordless cry.

“You two are really shamelessly fast sometimes,” Mai said softly, moving towards them from the edge of the bed, where she had sat, watching them fuck. “That’s... almost mean.”

“Oh darling,” Katara murmured, and both she and Zuko hugged their wife closely. “Our darling.”

“Oh, yours,” Mai said, openly enjoying their attention. “Yours.”

They slept peacefully, entangled in a mess created by sheets, covers, and three sets of limbs.

*

The palace life returned to its normal rhythm within days, the three of them engaging in their regular activities. Zuko and his council spent long hours debating the policies regarding the Fire Nation’s colonial possessions; Mai took care of more immediate matters pertaining to the arrangements within the city, as well as the espionage; and Katara stuck to her favourite ground of social, education and health resorts.

An early report from the Ember Island beach house landed on Mai’s desk barely days after Azula’s departure. She flipped through it absent-mindedly, and, contenting herself with the knowledge that Azula and Toph seemed to be getting on well, threw the paper onto the ‘read’ pile.

They met with Zuko at dinner time, and found him completely drained.

“You know, you could spread these meetings over the next several weeks,” Mai said, passing their husband a bowl of sauce for the meat. “There’s no need to reform the colonies within _days_. They can wait a while longer.”

“It’s really not worth your health,” Katara agreed.

Zuko sighed deeply.

“I’d like to have all the important matters closed before you give birth,” he explained. “And have at least a few weeks of relative freedom to look after you and the babies.”

“We’d much better appreciate your sneaking out for a couple of hours than your working yourself to an early death,” Katara said, reaching for a second helping of the pasta. “Moreover. I think that your _children_ would appreciate their father being around when they old enough to remember him.”

“Regency would be such a messy business,” Mai remarked. Zuko scowled, but leant to kiss the corner of her lips.

“I’m glad that you care about me,” he said.

“Well, you can’t complain about that, can you,” Katara mused. She was eating heartily, the pasta quickly disappearing from her plate. “We look after you day and night.”

“That’s true,” Zuko agreed.

“You’ll get heartburn,” Mai said, looking with concern towards Katara. “Should we get the appropriate tea prepared?”

Katara made a small sound. “My baby likes pasta,” she declared sadly. “Who am I to deny my child its nutrition?”

“Oddly, mine prefers fish,” Mai stated. “Osmosis, I guess.”

Zuko realized that he was staring, his eyes clouded with admiration. His babies, demanding particular dishes – and his wives, eating to help his babies grow. Truly, he was the luckiest of men.

“You’re so utterly adorable,” he managed feebly.

According to the second report received by Mai, Azula and Toph were seen eating their meals together and spending some time together as well. Toph, apparently, was not sleeping with either the staff she’d borrowed from the palace or Azula’s nurses. Mai read the news with some relief, and then wrote a short note, letting the spy on the site know that lest anything out of ordinary happens, a monthly report should be more than enough.

While Zuko was still busy considering the fate of the colonies, Mai and Katara finally got down to arranging the nursery.

The Fire Ladies sat comfortably on a sofa put in one corner of the freshly painted room, and then took to ordering the servants around. First, they had the furniture moved around the room several times, until they decided on the best placement of the cribs, the tables, and the wardrobe closets. Then it was time for arranging the decorative fabrics, and after – for putting the tiny clothes, toys, and baby care items in the appropriate places.

Then they changed their minds, and told the servants to rearrange everything.

“It’s getting quite pretty in here,” Katara decided after the third change.

“I don’t know, it’s so colourful. You might get nauseous,” Mai complained, causing Katara to embrace and kiss her warmly.

“Are you alright? You’re very quiet today,” she said, stroking her wife’s nape. “Have you got too little sleep? We can stop now, and you can have a nap, if you want.”

Mai sighed.

“I don’t know. Maybe? I do feel tired.”

Upon finding out about this development, Zuko promptly freaked out.

“What if there’s something wrong with her or the baby?” he asked, waving his hands around. “We should call for a physician, at once!”

“Look, I’m quite certain that beyond a little tiredness, she’s absolutely fine,” Katara replied reasonably.

Zuko fumed.

“Are you sure?” he asked, and covered his eyes when Katara released a stream of water out of a nearby vase into his face. “Alright, alright! I believe you.”

“As well as you should,” Katara said through clenched teeth.

Zuko touched her arm, and, on feeling her relax, drew her in for a kiss.

“I’m sorry,” he said, kissing her eyes, nose, and cheekbones. “Don’t be upset with me.”

Katara snuggled into Zuko’s embrace, inhaling the familiar scent of him.

“Maybe we’re finally getting hormonal,” she muttered into his collarbone, only to repeat her words when Zuko didn’t hear her. “We joked that maybe your moodiness would be enough for the three of us, but I’m not sure now.”

Zuko shook his head. “It’s not the pregnancy,” he said. “It’s that awful windy part of the winter. Azula always went batshit at this time of the year when we were kids, and I preferred to avoid my father in these few weeks.”

Katara instinctively started to lay kisses all over his scar. “My poor darling,” she said.

Zuko shrugged.

“I might get homicidal too, you never know,” he said. “These are some really horrible winds.”

Katara shot him a warning glance.

“Your weather is really stupid,” she declared, swirling a stream of water over their heads. Zuko raised his hands and evaporated it in mid-air.

“Being busy helps,” he said seriously. “Maybe we should find Mai some spy plot to take up her time.”

“I think that Mai’s already on top of every spy plot possible,” Katara replied. “And I’m finally getting around to setting up a health centre in the southern isles. Hard to be more busy.”

“I have no idea how I’d be able to deal without you,” Zuko reflected, and Katara patted his shoulder.

“Don’t worry. We won’t allow you to find that out.”


	5. Chapter Five

Halfway into the third trimester of the pregnancy Katara decided that perhaps the time was ripe to consider Mai and her to be _huge_. While she was steadily gaining weight and size for the last months, Mai’s figure finally evened out, and no longer did her belly appear to be transplanted from another woman’s body.

Obviously, they spent inordinate amounts of time observing their bodies, and the changes occurring in them, both when on their own, and with Zuko, who was invariably delighted by their pregnant bellies, or enlarged breasts and asses.

“You know, my nipples are now exactly the same shade like this candy your uncle brought us the last time,” Katara mused one evening, lying on the bed with both Mai and Zuko. “Do you think it’s to cultivate the association with food in the baby?”

“I know I should find this disgusting, but it’s strangely adorable,” Zuko reflected. Katara and Mai exchanged fond looks; upon finding out that indeed, they were quite intent on breast-feeding the babies themselves, Zuko initially froze, only to burst into noises of admiration after giving the subject some thought.

“I’m still not sure that I’m convinced,” Mai said. “It’s cute and all, but isn’t it also supposed to _hurt_ and be all unpleasant at the beginning?”

“Master water healer over here,” Katara reminded her.

“The thing is, you _adore_ babies,” Mai remarked, sounding a little sad. “I’m not sure that I even like them very much.”

“You don’t have to like _babies_ at large,” Katara replied. “Just these two. And, well, their possible future siblings.”

“How many do you have planned?” Zuko asked, amused.

“I won’t tell you. You’re going to laugh.”

“Dear spirits.”

“I definitely wouldn’t like to stop at heir and spare.”

“Could we focus on the babies that are already on board for the time being?” Mai pleaded, holding onto Zuko’s hand. He closed his fingers around hers, and then raised her hand to his lips to kiss her. Mai snuggled closer to him.

“Sure,” Katara said, joining the two of them. After a moment she sighed. “I think that _the_ baby is having a dance party on _my liver_.”

Mai nodded her head in sympathy.

“I haven’t seen my feet for more than a week,” she complained. “I probably won’t again, until we give birth.”

“They’re still very pretty,” Zuko hastened to say. Mai attempted to raise one leg into the air, and then gave up.

“It’s good that at least we don’t have swelling problems,” Katara reflected, getting a look at her wife’s still rather shapely calves.

“It does come in handy to have a waterbending wife,” Mai agreed. “It would be nice to have Ty Lee’s agility, though.”

“Yeah. Getting horny and having your joints refuse to cooperate? Worst thing ever.”

“I know it should be you in the centre of the attention right now,” Zuko interceded. “But could we please spend a moment acknowledging my contributions to your well-being? I know that _my joints_ have discovered some quite interesting ways in which to bend during these past few weeks.”

“Oh Zuko, you’re so amazing,” Mai said at once. “Whatever would we do without you?”

“You’re being ironic, right?” he asked suspiciously.

Mai kissed his jaw, a playful glimmer in her eye.

“Only a little bit.”

“No appreciation for my hard work,” Zuko grumbled. “Should have known. Always the undergod. Even when I’m the Fire Lord.”

“Under _dog_ ,” Mai corrected.

Zuko fumed.

“That’s what I said.”

Mai laughed and kissed him again, this time closer to his ear.

“By the way, is it true that the Fire Lord is supposed to be a descendant of gods?” Katara asked with sudden curiosity.

Zuko paused.

“Technically.”

“Just the Fire Lord, or his children as well?”

“I’d say so, but you should probably ask the sages,” Zuko offered finally. “Mai?”

“Judging from Azula’s musings on her divine propensity for holding and exerting power, I’d say it’s the Fire Lord and all his descendants,” Mai replied after a moment’s thought. “But Azulon went for a more secular reign, and I’m not sure if we need people going insane about Zuko’s divinity even more than they do now.”

“It was just something I ran into while looking through the paperwork for my hospital,” Katara explained, and smiled. “I’d never thought I’d carry a divine child.”

“You’re making me blush,” Zuko said, though both his expression and the tone of his voice suggested an approaching panic attack.

The Fire Ladies didn’t fail to notice their husband’s change of mood.

“What’s wrong?” Mai asked, touching Zuko tenderly. When he frowned, she kissed his jaw again. “Come on, Zuko, you know you can tell us.”

“It’s nothing,” he replied gloomily. “I’m just approaching the freaking out phase of waiting for you to give birth.”

Mai and Katara exchanged looks. Katara raised her eyebrows.

“I’m actually kinda surprised it took you that long,” she revealed.

“It _didn’t_ ,” Zuko sighed. “I just didn’t want to unduly stress you out beyond what you must feel already.”

“That’s really thoughtful of you,” Mai deadpanned, not unkindly. “But I have to say I really feel calmer since Katara suggested using waterbending to prod my baby out in due time.”

Zuko scowled.

“You’re not doubting my skills, are you?” Katara asked, an unveiled threat ringing in her voice.

“Of course not,” Zuko asserted immediately. “I’m less sure about the babies’ willingness to cooperate, though.”

Mai made a snorting noise.

“They’ll be perfectly well-behaved, of course,” she declared. “Both before and after birth. Why shouldn’t they?”

Zuko wisely decided to abstain from further complaining, coming to a conclusion that annoying his almost eight-months-pregnant wife would not be the wisest course of action.

*

The crisis arrived unexpectedly, in the form of a letter from Azula’s concerned nurse to Zuko. Upon hearing of this occurrence, Mai immediately decided to fire the nurse for going over her head, and only then focused on the problem at hand.

The problem at hand concerned Azula getting it on with Toph.

“She is fucking kidding me,” Zuko exclaimed furiously. “Right?”

Mai considered the spy reports she’d been receiving from the Ember Island, and thought that they might have been overly vague in the word choices.

“I don’t think she would,” she replied. “I doubt she’d dare to risk your anger.”

The thought appeared to mollify Zuko a little, but only for a short moment.

“What is Azula thinking?” he asked dramatically. Then it dawned on him. “She’s trying to get on my bad side again, isn’t she? And she knows that if she tried anything here, my people would fall on her like a ton of bricks.”

“Yeah, but Toph wouldn’t allow a ton of bricks to fall on Azula,” Katara remarked. “Or any earth-based stuff, at this point.”

“You don’t believe this relationship is for real, do you?” Zuko demanded.

Katara shrugged.

“Toph has something of a penchant for dangerous women,” she said. “And Azula has improved of late.”

Zuko glared towards Mai.

“When did you talk her over to your side?”

Mai sighed.

The conversation – and Zuko’s anger – ran throughout the day, and then resumed anew at bedtime, when Zuko started to complain with fresh energy about Azula’s match.

By that time Mai was feeling quite fed up with the subject.

“Well, at least Toph’s safe from the Earth King,” she pointed out. “Isn’t that what we wanted?”

At that remark, Katara perked up.

“Do you think Toph and Azula could get married, to drive the point home?” she asked excitedly.

Zuko raised his hand and massaged the peak of his nose.

“Yes, this is exactly what we need. My crazy sister marrying… well, anyone.”

“You could spin it to your advantage,” Katara advised. “Azula falling for a beautiful blind girl? The public will _eat_ it. And Azula could use some good publicity.”

Zuko scowled.

“Oh come on, Toph would be a great fit for a princess,” Mai said. “Nobility, a lot of money…”

“I’m not concerned for the suitability of Azula’s marriage here,” Zuko said. “Or, well, for Azula.”

“Well, maybe you should be,” Mai replied haughtily. “Because if Toph decides to dump her? Bye-bye sanity, welcome back crazy Azula.”

“You know, Toph’s not exactly a helpless little girl,” Katara said, and, apparently going for a Sokka-style joke, added, “She can probably keep Azula pretty well grounded.”

“Or they could actually have fun together,” Mai said, sounding somewhat tired.

“Fun?” Zuko snorted. “Azula’s idea of fun is setting dolls on fire.”

“I have a feeling that that was a few good years back,” Mai remarked.

“My point still stands.”

“I don’t know why this is such a big deal,” Mai stated calmly. “No, they don’t need to get married. They might have a nice winter fling. I doubt anyone’s using anyone there, and Azula could make use a proper hug or two.”

“You’re about the only sane person I know who likes Azula without being paid to,” Zuko declared.

Somehow, this comment tipped the scale. Mai slowly sat up, and shot her husband a glare of death.

“Do not talk to me in this tone,” she said icily.

“ _You_ do not talk to _me_ in this tone,” Zuko spat at once, causing Katara to cover her face with her hands.

Mai was quiet for a short moment, going over the situation in her brain.

“I don’t have the energy to deal with this,” she announced coolly, and cut Zuko off before he managed to say another word. “No, really. You can go and sleep in the Fire Lord bedroom tonight. I need my peace and quiet.”

Zuko seemed to be somewhat cooled down by this, and he moved towards Mai for an apology, but she shook her head.

“Zuko, please. I’m exhausted, and I want to go to sleep. We can talk in the morning.”

Zuko stood for a moment looking at Mai with a forlorn expression, but then turned to take his leave without another sound of protest.

“Should I go too?” Katara asked a few minutes after Zuko had left the room. Mai sighed, and allowed her wife to kiss and stroke her.

“You might want to go and talk to Zuko,” she said. “But you don’t have to.”

“I was going to spend some time outside tonight, actually,” Katara explained. “It’s the full moon. But maybe I shouldn’t leave you alone?”

“It’s alright,” Mai replied, and lay a small kiss on the corner of Katara’s lips. “I’m already half-asleep.”

She was aware of her wife staying in the room for a while longer, while she tucked herself snugly under the cover; she couldn’t tell exactly when Katara left.

Mai woke some time later to the sound of wind howling outside the palace. The royal bedchamber, though warm, was dark and empty.

She stirred for a while in bed, before sliding out from the under the covers. She put on the warm bathrobe – a gift from the Southern Water Tribe in-laws – and left the room.

She went to what they called the Fire Lord set of rooms first, despite not really expecting to find Zuko there; he never much enjoyed spending time in that part of the palace. The bedchamber was, indeed, empty, although the linens were visibly tussled, suggesting that Zuko did at least attempt to fall asleep there.

Next, she headed for Katara’s rooms, where her wife might have been expected to be found after finishing her waterbending practice, and where Zuko might have headed as well. Approaching the small bedchamber, Mai realized that she could, indeed, hear her spouses’ voices sounding from within the room. Quite instinctively, she slowed down, softened her step, and tiptoed to the half-open door.

She saw Katara sitting on the bed, her legs stretched out. Zuko was kneeling in front of her, and stroking her feet, apparently warming them up.

“It’s not _that_ cold,” Katara said.

“It’s the windy season,” Zuko replied, a note of concern in his voice. “I told you. The temperatures may drop very rapidly. You shouldn’t risk your health.”

“Zuko, in case you don’t remember, I come from the _South Pole_. This weather doesn’t even begin to come close to the frosts I am used to.”

Zuko said something under his breath, and Katara kicked him playfully in the chest.

“Why were you up wandering around the palace anyway?” she asked, when his hands returned to her feet. “When I was leaving, you were fuming in the bed.”

“I wasn’t _fuming_ ,” Zuko protested.

“ _Of course_ you were.”

“I _wasn’t_. Anyway, I was going to check on Mai when I heard you come in. You know how she hates the winds.”

It was high time to make an entrance.

“Hey,” Mai said, making a few steps into the room. Katara raised her head; Zuko turned around. They both smiled.

“Mai,” he said, getting up. He came to her, and kissed her gently; feeling warmed up after overhearing her spouses’ conversation, she didn’t hesitate to reciprocate. “Are you okay? Did we wake you?”

“The winds did,” she replied. She snuggled into his warm arms for a moment, before turning to the bed and crawling under the covers. “Come here. Warm me up.”

They joined her on the bed, Zuko embracing her from the behind, and Katara attempting to fit in from the front. Their bellies brushed against one another. This bed was definitely not designed for three persons plus: even before they got pregnant, it would have felt overcrowded. Finally, Katara gave up, and lay with her back to Mai, muttering something about small beds, only calming down when Mai embraced her and kissed her neck.

“I love you,” Zuko said into Mai’s ear, his hand warm on her belly. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. Let’s not argue anymore.”

“Alright,” Mai agreed. “Since you admit you’ve been wrong.” Zuko snorted, and she snuggled even closer to him. “I love you too.”

Mai woke up early in the morning – far too early for her tastes, in fact – feeling Zuko’s warmth as he was still lying very snugly behind her back, his erection resting against her ass. She spent a minute wondering if he was awake, only to have him finally kiss her neck with a small sigh.

She reached out behind her, twisting her hand so as to lay it on the small of Zuko’s back, and pressed him closer to herself. He seemed to pause for a moment, and then proceeded to uncover Mai’s ear off her hair, and kissed her earlobe. They moved languidly against one another, Zuko stroking Mai’s sides and breasts, before he moved back a little and raised her nightgown to expose her buttocks. She gasped upon feeling his fingers trace her cleft.

“You are so unbelievably gorgeous,” Zuko murmured into her ear, reaching to her pussy, making a content sound on discovering her wetness. Mai ground against his hand, wordlessly encouraging him to go on. It was only several minutes later, when Mai almost reached the brink of her climax when Zuko finally entered her, trying for slow, but almost immediately getting impatient in his moves. Moments after, Mai came against his fingers; Zuko followed her very soon, as usual delightfully easy in the morning.

The thought of getting out of bed abhorrent, Mai snuggled into Zuko’s embrace, muttering something vaguely incoherent about the temperature in the palace being low and the hour much too early.

“No getting up yet,” Zuko agreed, sounding almost as drowsy as she did.

Katara made a small noise on the other side of Mai.

“You’re right. Let’s sleep,” Mai said into her wife’s ear.

They slept.

*

The last month of the pregnancy seemed to stretch into infinity. Katara was irritable and insomniac; Mai, on the other hand, constantly felt sleepy, and very mellow. They both ate enormous amounts of food, and complained of having to go to the bathroom every half an hour.

Zuko managed to keep his dramatics mostly in check: at the end of the eighth month of his wives’ pregnancies, he demanded only that two midwives be permanently installed in the palace, to be available at any hour, and promised to abstain from trying to employ further healthcare personnel until he was given a sign from Katara or Mai.

“And don’t try to smuggle them in here under false pretences,” Mai warned. “I’ll find them out and fire anyway.”

Zuko glared at her, but, much to their surprise, didn’t even protest.

That evening went on much as usual; after the sex, made increasingly difficult by Mai and Katara’s big bellies and lack of agility, Mai and Zuko fell asleep almost immediately. Katara, meanwhile, lay on her side of the bed, listening as the breathing of her spouses grew steadier and deeper, looking to the ceiling, and getting more and more annoyed by her sleeplessness. Eventually, she sat up on the bed, and peered at her beloveds.

Mai slept on her back, one of her hands on her belly, the other on the pillow by the side of her head. Zuko, as always, took up almost half of the bed, sprawling his limbs in the most unbelievable directions, on occasion turning to stretch himself even further. Katara watched him for a long while with amused tenderness, before throwing her legs over the side of the bed. She wasn’t quite sure what she should devote her time to, at this hour of the night, especially since she didn’t really feel like going out for a waterbending session.

She must have made some kind of a sound, because Zuko suddenly stirred under the covers, mumbled something, and then rose on his elbows, looking quite confused. As Katara turned to glance at him, she saw Zuko raise his hand from under the cover.

There was a flicker of white flame on his palm, which he slowly brought towards the nightstand to light one of the candles. It caught the fire with a hiss. Zuko sat up on the bed, and rubbed his eyes.

“Katara,” Zuko said, quietly, so as not to wake Mai up, his good eye half-open, the other one barely a slit. “What’s wrong? It’s the middle of the night, isn’t it?”

Katara shrugged, and made a face.

“Nothing’s wrong. I just can’t sleep,” she replied.

Zuko made his way to the edge of the bed, and sat next to Katara. He pulled a woolly blanket off the floor, and covered them both, carefully. Katara smiled. In the colder months – which she obstinately refused to call “winter” – Zuko’s nightwear was long-sleeved, as if the two women sleeping on his both sides didn’t provide him with enough warmth. They teased him that it would be easier for him to bend fire and warm up the bedchamber than to stock it up with blankets and furs, but to no avail.

Zuko yawned warm air into Katara’s ear, and then wrapped her in his arms, laying one hand on her stomach. The baby, so far fluttering in what seemed to be its favourite spot on the left side of Katara’s stomach, flipped around a few times, pushed at the exact place Zuko’s hand lay, and rested there.

“I think it likes you,” Katara remarked in a whisper. Zuko laughed quietly into her neck.

“It seemed to quite enjoy being wrapped in fire, too,” he said, referring to the ceremony earlier that day. Katara snorted.

“It just likes warmth, like its daddy and the baby sibling,” she explained, pulling the blanket off Zuko’s knee, only to have him make a tiny yelp, and replace it instantly. “They both do.”

“You know what?”

“Hmm?”

“It’ll be nice not to talk of them as ‘it’s anymore when they are born,” Zuko said softly, stroking her belly.

Katara craned her neck to kiss the underside of Zuko’s jaw.

“That’s true,” she admitted, keeping her voice low so as not to wake Mai. If their wife got up at this hour because of them, they would need to evacuate to another city to escape her fury.

The thought made Katara smile. Zuko gently drew her face, up and they kissed for a long while.

“You should be getting your sleep before they are born,” he suggested when they finally pulled apart. “Since you don’t want to rely on the nurses and nannies entirely, I mean.”

Katara sighed deeply, resting her head on his arm. “I know, I know,” she said. “No more sleep. No more peace and quiet. No more time for ourselves.” She made an unhappy noise. “No more sex.”

“Are you complaining about the _babies_?” Zuko asked, surprised.

“It’s not just you who’s stressing out, you know,” she replied, pouting. “I’m just being less vocal about it.”

Zuko cradled her tenderly in his arms.

“I know you’ll be an excellent mother,” he declared. “Both of you will be great mums. But if we require any help, we’ll just get an army of nannies and get through it.”

Katara nodded.

“You’re very cute when you’re all supportive,” she murmured. “You’ll make a good dad, too, you know.”

“I’ve decided that I can’t be worse than Ozai,” Zuko shrugged. “It’s a comforting thought.”

Katara chuckled; she was feeling herself grow quite sleepy in the warmth of Zuko’s embrace.

“I love you,” she said. Zuko yawned. “Back to sleep?”

They climbed back under the covers and laid down together, Zuko snuggling behind Katara’s back.

“Goodnight,” he murmured into her ear.

This time, she drifted off with no problems at all.

*

In the weeks preceding the expected double birth, the palace was swarmed by the best midwives and physicians of the Fire Nation, as well as healers from the Northern Water Tribe. Every single movement of Mai and Katara was being watched; a simple hesitant step during a walk led to questions about their well being and whether they could feel the babies pushing to see the light of the day.

It was a chilly spring day when Mai and Katara decided that it was high time for Mai’s baby to be born. In order to start the labour process, Katara employed her finest waterbending skills, and then didn’t leave Mai’s side throughout the delivery. It took several long hours – long enough for the drugs that Katara had fed Zuko to wear off, and for him to begin pacing outside the chamber – but in the end of the day Mai gave birth to a baby girl.

The new Crown Princess of the Fire Nation was pretty and tiny, and seemed unsure if she should welcome the new world with a series of dramatic cries, or with a stoical gaze of her small eyes. She spent the first minutes of her life whimpering quietly, and finally settled down only when all the medical staff left the chamber, leaving her alone with her parents.

Mai, holding her newborn daughter in her arms, examined her carefully.

“She looks like you,” she deemed finally, turning to look at Zuko, who was embracing her tightly, a slightly silly, blissed out expression of utmost tenderness on his face. He smiled, and kissed her.

“She really kinda does,” Katara said, stroking the little girl’s nose with her finger. “She has that adorable sleepy turtle look to her face.” She kissed Mai, and smiled as well. “She’s absolutely gorgeous.”

“You both are,” Zuko said. “Well – all three of you,” he added hastily.

Katara put her hand on his. “It’s okay. It’s Mai’s day, all the way.”

Mai attempted a weak smile. “I’m really tired,” she said.

“No wonder,” Katara replied. “It was terribly exhausting, and you were so brave and focused.”

“You were incredible,” Zuko asserted.

Katara nodded, and carefully took the baby girl out of Mai’s arms to put her beside her mother. “You deserve proper rest. And look, she’s fallen asleep already.”

“We should name her,” Mai murmured drowsily.

“This can wait,” Zuko replied, and kissed her again. “Sleep well, Mai. We won’t let anyone disturb you.”

The second Fire Princess, born three days later, appeared about as cute and small, although slightly plumper than her sister. Her skin was also a little darker, though their hair appeared to be of exactly the same shade.

Mai demanded to be allowed to stay with Katara during her labour, and supportively managed to fall asleep only a few times. This delivery seemed, however, much more peaceful, as the North Pole healers were fairly experienced with assisting their fellow waterbenders during the labour.

Later that evening, when Katara managed to catch some sleep, the happy trio of new parents gathered in the bedchamber to discuss names for their daughters. With the newborn girls fast asleep in the middle of the bed, Mai, Katara and Zuko talked in soft voices, occasionally pausing to pet or kiss one of the babies.

“I thought about what you said when we talked about names, about ignoring you,” Katara started. “And, well, what would you say to _Keiko_?”

“Kei-ko,” Zuko repeated, with some considerable difficulty stopping stroking the tiny hand of their older daughter. “Oh. It’s nice.”

Mai smiled. “I see what you did there.”

While settling on Keiko as the name for the baby girl born by Katara was easy, naming her older sister turned out to be something of a problem. Finally, after a long discussion, they decided to call her Mitsuko, a word which meant _light_. The baby girls themselves, of course, completely ignored the momentous occasion, sleeping soundly throughout the length of the conversation.

Some two weeks later they were all sitting on the couch in one of the living rooms, and going through the letters and packages that they received through the friends and family channel of the palace post. Mitsuko had fallen asleep while being held by Katara, and so when Keiko woke up with a startled whimper, Mai took her in her arms and, after a quick check-up, started to nurse the baby girl.

“I could hold Mitsuko,” Zuko suggested in a soft tone. Mai looked towards him to make sure that it wasn’t a complaint regarding their lack of attention for him, but apparently, Zuko, deeply enthralled by his fatherhood and enamoured of his daughters, was genuinely offering help.

“She seems so comfortable with Katara,” she replied, smiling towards him. “And I don’t think Keiko minds.” The baby was suckling greedily, her eyes half closed.

“You are all so beautiful,” Zuko said, looking as if he were halfway towards crying. “I can’t believe my own luck.”

Katara playfully patted him on the shoulder.

“Well, you can start by unwrapping the rest of these gifts,” she proposed. “Given that we’re both all busy and immobilized.”

Zuko nodded, and reached for the first of the parcels. He undid them meticulously, one after another, putting the gifts in one pile on the table, and the letters on another. Katara and Mai watched him with amused fascination.

“Can you tell which one is from whom?” Mai asked at last.

Zuko frowned, and then looked from one pile to the other.

“I guess so,” he said. “The teas and the wind chimes are of course from Uncle Iroh. The collection of baby animals is Sokka’s own production.”

“As you can tell,” Katara snorted.

Zuko continued to enumerate other gifts, which included a selection of smaller and bigger baby clothes, some baby accessories, and assorted various and sundry. Since Mai was a little distracted with the feeding, Katara listened to him especially attentively.

“So that leaves Mai’s parents, Toph with Azula, and...?”

Zuko leafed through the letters.

“No, that’s it. Nobody else.”

“But there is one more gift,” Mai said. “There, at the bottom. Under the red and black clothy things?”

Zuko reached for the items indicated by Mai, putting aside small shirts and dresses (“Oh, these will be perfect for the warmer weather,” Katara remarked at once) sent by Mai’s own family.

“It looks like more clothes,” he said, showing a neatly folded pile of fabric to his wives. “In the royal family colours.”

Something fell out of the material, and jangled lightly on the floor, causing Katara to make a shushing sound. Zuko leant down, and raised two tiny ring-like items. He turned them around in his hands, trying to figure out their purpose.

“It’s two headpieces,” he exclaimed at last. “For top knots. Baby-sized. And these are-“ He spread the fabric, revealing two adult-sized dresses.

“I think these are for Katara and me,” Mai decided.

“That’s really very thoughtful,” Katara said, a note of surprise to her voice. “Who sent it?”

“Must be from Azula,” Zuko said.

“No, she and Toph got us the baby bathing set, as I suggested,” Mai insisted. “I knew it would be fairly easy to complete on the Ember Island, and besides, it will surely come in handy, sooner or later.”

“Well, that’s it. There are no more letters,” Zuko declared, sounding slightly impatient. “Someone added it in an afterthought, probably Uncle. Big deal.”

“It doesn’t seem like your Uncle’s kind of gift, though,” Katara said thoughtfully, only to be interrupted when Mitsuko whimpered quietly in her embrace.

“So there’s a mysterious benefactor,” Zuko said.

“With an access to the private channel?”

At that moment, Mitsuko decided to start to cry in earnest, causing both Zuko and Katara to abandon their argument, and check up on the state of her nappies, and the fullness of her stomach.

“That’s not fair,” Zuko murmured eventually, when Mitsuko calmed down. “My own child prohibits me to complain. I did not bargain for _that_.”

Mai laughed quietly.

“Oh, that’s more like you,” she exclaimed, leaning carefully over to him, and kissing his temple. “The Zuko we know and love.”

“I love you too,” Zuko said, still seeming somewhat grumpy.

“We know,” Katara replied with a smile, and snuggled closer to her spouses, offering kisses to both of them. “These coming months are going to be _fun_ , aren’t they?”

And that they undeniably were.


End file.
